The Unwritten Tales
by rewind gone nuts
Summary: Behold an assortment of ideas, concepts and other potential tales of Ranma and cohorts. We aren't certain if these storylines deserve expansion, so they are placed here for your perusal.
1. Hand of Shadow

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** I know that this is the third time I've taken this story down and reposted it (well, technically), and I'm sorry. However, I was going over the anthology and noted that, really, there's quite a few more ideas here that would work nicely as "bases" to build into fully grown fics than I ever anticipated. So, I decided I'd split the old "Random Tales" into two seperate anthologies; that way, readers can more easily single out potential stories that we have and which they can let us know if they'd like us to work on making them into fully grown ones.

Hand of Shadow

The rain fell as though the very sky had been torn open, thunder roaring like cannon fire- it had been some time since a storm of this magnitude had come to Nerima. To Ranma Saotome, however, the weather wasn't even worthy of notice- if he had noticed, then most likely he would have thought it ironic that the sky would mirror his mood so adeptly. This was not a normal day for Ranma, and anyone who took a look at him would be able to tell. It wasn't the fact he was currently sitting under a bridge- Ranma found bridges a strangely soothing place to be when his mind was full, and he'd been kicked out before. What was distinctive was the fact that he was in male form... but crying. This would have set alarm bells ringing in the minds of anyone who knew Ranma well; he hated to show sorrow when in male form, having learned it was "unmanly" from his father, and if he did have to cry, then his preference was to assume female form to spill his tears in.

Yet, here he was, tears flowing freely down his cheeks, the occasional wracking, choking sob shaking his entire body with its force. This sorrow had built up over a long period of time, and recent events had pushed Ranma beyond the breaking point. Right now, he didn't care about how he looked, he didn't care about his reputation, he didn't care- he just wanted this pain to end, for this to have all been some hideous, terrible, agonizing dream. Why couldn't he wake up from this hell?

"It is agonizing, isn't it? The pain of a true betrayal?"

There was another presence here now, strangely faint though the voice was clear and toneless.

"It is a pain that can drive the strongest of men into madness, and it is a wound on the heart that time only causes to fester within you."

It was...strange, the voice was perfectly toneless and emotionless but its words were strangely comforting.

"I can help you."

Ranma looked up and promptly scurried backwards when he found a stranger standing at his shoulder. Heartbroken as he was, he still wasn't ready to die yet, and had just had the value of paranoia driven painfully home by the events of that day. The stranger took no offense, instead giving Ranma a soft, wry smile. He sort of reminded Ranma of Kogane, the shy ghost girl he had found in Furinkan- he had that same air of sadness and ethereality... to say nothing of the fact he was faintly translucent and a good half a dozen ghost lights were gently orbiting around him. Turning away from Ranma, the ghostly figure drifted -Ranma couldn't tell if he was floating or walking, due to long, vaguely kimono-like robe he was wearing- over to the other side of the bridge, staring out into the darkness and the rain before speaking again, not turning back to Ranma as he did so.

"I have heard your heart screaming and your soul raging child, and I know why you weep. I am not here to harm, but rather I am here to offer you the chance to do something about it, rather than simply accept it."

Thunder and lightning flashed in the sky above as the man continued to speak, "Tell me, if you had the power, what would you do in the face of such a betrayal, for what else can you call it? How would you answer such an insult to your being?"

Ranma stared at him, a long, hard stare, a stare fit to gaze into the very soul, as he contemplated the stranger's words. Finally, his answer came forth, a single word, a word he had never uttered before in his life (though, admittedly, he had lived up to its spirit in the past), a word that summed up just how grievous a wound had been dealt to his heart.

"Revenge."

The stranger nodded, as the ghost lights began to form a ring as he turned to Ranma and smiled. "Then you shall have it, if you are willing to pay the price. Are you willing to walk in darkness? Are you willing to swallow your pride and obey the will of another? Are you willing to kill?"

He stared hard at Ranma, matching the teen's gaze with his own as the lights began to spin faster and faster, faint images of a great fortress beginning to form in the middle of the spinning ring, "I can see that you are a wild heart, always seeking its own path. The one whom I serve can give you the freedom to do as you wish with the power and knowledge he can bestow, so long as you are willing to obey his will."

Ranma could not help but hesitate; even here at the very precipice of despair, everything he was, everything he had ever believed in, screamed at him to turn away, to turn down the offer, to go back...

...Back to the Tendos. Back to his so-called family. Back to **her**. **No!** He would **never** go back to **HER!**

Even as the part of him that was a martial artist screamed at him to turn away, Ranma defiantly drew himself upwards. If he was already tottering on the brink of the abyss, then kami damn it- he would hurl himself in! Without a word or any other sign of acknowledgement, he strode into the ring, which sealed shut behind him even as the ghostly figure faded away like a Cheshire cat. And like a Cheshire cat, the very last thing to fade was his ominous, satisfied, grin...

Five days later, on top of a skyscraper in the Juuban district of Tokyo, a set of shadows stretched forwards from an air-conditioning unit and slowly formed into an ornate circle as a figure rose out of it, stopping as the feet exited before the shadows rapidly retracted back to their original positions like a rubber band snapping back from being stretched as the figure took in a breath of air.

The voice of the figure was undeniably male and held a hint of cold venom, "Juuban."

He was dressed in a suit of armour, the metal a dull green-brown that made the decorations stand out, images of broken chains, skulls, winged devils and thorny roses covered every inch of the metal in a dark silver that wasn't covered by the tattered cloak, the outside black as pitch but the inside a beautiful midnight blue while the long pony-tail and blue-gray eyes that glowed with inner power were the only visible parts of the male's face, the rest covered by an ornate metal half-mask of the same brown-green metal, the same dark silver decorations forming snarling beast's maw.

An armored arm extended in front of the person, and shadow cast began to warp and pool before a seven-foot long pole fitted with a three-foot long blade that had a smooth edge on the main side and a set of bladed edges shaped like a set of spines on the other side rose from the shadow to be clasped in the person's hand as the blade gleamed in the sunlight.

Satisfied with this, the person walked to the edge of the building and faced a certain direction.

And then he jumped.

Meanwhile, the Sailor Senshi were doing what they normally did; take on another random group of yoma that had appeared and was draining civilians at random in a feeding frenzy before possessing a group of kid's go-karts, speeding all over the park that the Senshi had chased them to.

"Wah! Can't these things slow down a little so we can hit them?" Sailor Moon narrowly avoided getting run over as Mars sent a lance of flames at the demon.

"You want to ask them meatball head? Just keep dodging!"

"Shabon Spray!" Immediately a thick mist covered the area, stopping the yoma dead in their tracks as they tried to see through the mist as the Senshi regrouped.

"Okay, lets go take of those Yoma before the mist vanishes. Mercury, you got any ideas?"

The blue-haired Senshi nodded as she brought up her Mercury Computer, showing the yoma along with a string of data. "We should be able to paralyze them using Jupiter's attacks, that should leave them open to the rest of us."

The girls nodded and were about to launch their plan of attack when something landed with a powerful shockwave in the park, a gust of unnatural wind blowing away the wind to reveal the source; an armored figure who was now striding towards them, and the Yoma were between them.

The demons spared only a moment before rushing towards the armored figure, ignoring the presence of the giant scythe, for what human weapon could hurt them? The question was answered as the figure raised the scythe and in a single powerful one-handed sweep, the lead Yoma suddenly split in two before exploding into dust with a scream.

The scythe's momentum carried the wielder into a spin before blade came hurtling down on top of the second, the demon first becoming a shower of gore that rapidly faded to dust. Wrenching the blade free, the armored figure seemed to be obvlious to the third charging from behind before the scythe was swung backhand, the other side of the blade slicing into the demon before the figure spun and slice the Yoma in half, the momentum taking off the head of the third.

Before the two bodies began to disintegrate into dust, the armored figure was already walking away, approaching the Sailor Senshi in complete silence, before walking past them without a word.

The Senshi watched the armored person walk off in silence before a few more seconds before Sailor Venus suddenly said, "He's cute."

That was enough to break the spell as Sailor Mars suddenly gasped, "Hey! Who was he anyway?" She turned to Mercury, "Mercury?"

The blue-haired senshi immediately began scanning the area and gasped, "Oh my god!"

Sailor Moon bounded up to her. "What? What is it Ami-chan?"

The blue-haired girl shivered as she lifted her head to face the others. "That...that person was loaded with dark energy, enough to destroy the city a hundred times over and still have enough for the rest of the country!"

The group paled slightly as Venus pouted.

"Figures; every time a cute guy shows up, he turns out to be evil! Can't a Senshi get herself some tail, dammit!"

Jupiter nodded her agreement, while the others rolled their eyes as Moon's face firmed up.

"We can't let someone with that much dark power walk around like he owns the place. Come on, we need to follow him!" With a brief pause to get a fix on the trail of dark energy he was leaving, the Senshi were in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, the object of their search was ignorant of their pursuit and probably wouldn't have cared even if he had known they were after him. He was fixated on his target, the goal at the end of this chase, and even though he had never actually seen the place he was heading for, he knew that he was heading towards it, as clearly as a salmon returning to its spawning grounds. A dark smirk briefly flashed across his face, then died a quick and painful death. His stride lengthened as the hunting urge burned hotter in his belly; he was so close now, he would find her, and then she would pay...

The unexpected benefit of this was that he left the Senshi behind, first startled, then angry at his sudden display of fleet footedness. Faster and faster he raced through the streets, powerful legs suddenly thrusting him into the air, whole blocks vanishing with a single mighty bound. He was so close he could feel it, taste it! Soon- the word sang in his mind, boiled in his veins, a promise, a statement, a threat, a cry of ecstasy. Soon...

He spotted the threat at the pinnacle of his latest leap, skidding to a halt with such speed and strength that he gouged a pair of small trenches in the asphalt. He smirked at the foe standing against him, the only thing between him and vengeance. He took in the bald head, concealed beneath a dirty handkerchief, and the bulky body swathed in a gi that had gone gray with age and wear. Small, rat-like eyes flickered nervously behind cheap, durable glasses hooked over his ears.

"Hello, Genma. Long time no see..."

"Hey yourself, boy." Genma grunted, trying to be nonchalant. When his opponent's expression made it clear he was fooling no one but himself, Genma allowed himself to sigh sorrowfully. "What happened to you, Ranma?"

"How can you ask such a stupid question!" Ranma hissed in rage. "You know what she did, you know how she betrayed me! Did you really think I'd take such abuse, from her of all people? You at least shared the pain with me, you were with me every step of that long and treacherous road to mastering the Art- that's why you just got off with a few lumps when you screwed up! And that's what it was; screwing up! You may not have been an exemplary father -hell, you were barely a decent one- but at least you generally meant well, you never meant to betray me like this! She put me through the hell of this last year simply for her own crazed goals, and now she's going to pay! This has nothing to do with you anymore- get out of my way!"

"I'm sorry son, I cannot. You're right, this has nothing to do with me." Genma calmly shifted into a stance, "But she is not just your mother, she is my wife. Come then son, show me what power you have gained."

Ranma snarled behind his mask at the stubborn fool who was blocking his way, "So be it Pops. Prepare yourself."

The scythe blade folded with a click and vanished into shadow as Ranma charged forwards, a feint leading into a spinning kick as the battle was joined.

Ranma knew that Genma had gotten rusty in his skills since they had come to Nerima, a consequence of slacking off the way he had, and so he probably could have beaten his father with ease even without tapping into the power his Patron had given him. As Genma blocked kicks and dodged punches, doing his best to outmaneuver the younger Saotome, Ranma suddenly gave a feral grin.

"But where would the fun in that be?" He asked aloud.

The look of dull surprise on Genma's face was both hilarious and painful to see, which was why Ranma promptly lashed out at it with an amplified straight-arm punch. With the sudden boost in speed and strength, it pierced through Genma's defensive reflexes like a pneumatic spike into clay, the sheer strength hurling Genma clean through the wall of a building... on the opposite side of the street. Ranma watched, but when Genma failed to jump back through the hole he had made going in, he relaxed, confidant that he had just dealt the TKO blow. He marveled in the power he could feel coursing through him now; surely, this was what it felt like to be Happosai! ...Well, minus the insatiable desire to grope butts, nuzzle breasts and steal undies, anyway.

Genma grimaced as he used the dust to conceal himself, "It seems that I must use them. So be it, you haven't defeated me yet boy." He made a gesture and then his Ki winked out as he began moving towards Ranma, who seemed to be taking in thinking about something as the armored teen approached the front door. Carefully positioning himself, Genma struck.

"White Snake Reliable Venom Fist!" Ranma's eyes widened as he felt lances of Ki pierce his armour and he stumbled, his limbs refusing the work as he saw Genma appear from the side with a serious look on his face.

"Forgive me son, Dokuja Tanketsu Sho." Genma's hand streaked towards Ranma's chest, but the teen dropped to the ground and rolled to a crouch, only to continue rolling as Genma shouted, "Kijin Raishu Dan!"

The invisible projectile went over Ranma's face and he felt the sharpness of the vacuum blade before Genma took another stance, "Saidaikyu Kijin Raishu Dan!" A stream of projectiles, barely visible to his enhanced vision, streaked towards Ranma and created a cloud of dust as Genma looked on solemnly.

"There, it is done."

"Ehehehehehahahaaa."

The sound of that laughter sent a chill down Genma's spine, not just because his (psychotic, mutated, vengeful) son was laughing at attacks that should have left him unconscious and in need of medical care, but because Ranma had **never** laughed like that. When Ranma had laughed, it was an open, happy sound- not a sinister, sepulchral cackle that made him sound truly insane. He swallowed hard, sweat beading on his face as the dust cleared and Ranma materialized, unharmed and smirking. The younger Saotome clicked his tongue in a disapproving manner and waved his finger like Genma was a naughty child.

"You've been holding out on me, old man. But then, I've got a few new tricks of my own..."

He held up an open hand, which suddenly burst alight with flames of purest black. Ranma's face curled in a slasher's smile and before Genma could react he thrust his arm out, the dark fire erupting forth as a horizontal column, striking Genma and propelling him backwards. Genma screamed in pain; it was like the icy touch of death itself, boring into his flesh, ripping at his very soul! The pain was too much for him to endure and he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Ranma snarled as he picked up Genma by the front of his gi, "Thought you would have lasted at least a minute old man, guess I was wrong." With a careless toss, the man was thrown into a tree as Ranma summoned his scythe and focused his energies before his eyes flashed open.

"Destroyer of Empires!" In an instant, Ranma swung his scythe in an underhand swing and sent a blast of energy at the front of the house, the section exploding outwards in a spray of kindling and masonry as Ranma strode in, free hand flicking outwards…

"Phantom Light."

Immediately portions of the living room exploded into black flame as Ranma searched for that one person. He smiled as he sensed his target and tossed his scythe upwards, the blade slashing at the roof and causing it to collapse inwards, bringing with it one Nodoka Saotome, who screamed before it was cut off as Ranma's hand lashed out and grabbed her by the throat.

"Hello mother, we have so much to talk about."

Nodoka's eyes were wide as she took in Ranma armour as the teen undid the half-mask to reveal his murderous smile, his eyes brimming with anger and hatred as he expertly caught his scythe with his free hand and slammed it into a wall and strode towards the kitchen.

"I've waited for this day, wanted to do this for so long after you betrayed me, after you destroyed any and all love I once held in my heart for you." Nodoka's eyes flicked to the side and Ranma chuckled, "Pops? He's alive. After all, I need to save my energy to end your life, as slowly as possible."

His smile vanished, becoming a feral snarl before he punched Nodoka, hard, and spat in her face, "Words cannot begin to describe my hatred, my rage, my pure and total contempt for you. No, I think these will allow me to express my feelings much more capably than mere words."

He opened the drawers and began pulling out knives, "Let's begin."

Just as Ranma was about to start the show, there was a crash and a wheezing shout of "Stop...huuh...evil...doer...oh...oh god."

Blinking, Ranma leaned out the door to see the girls he had passed earlier in the still burning living room bent over panting. One in particular, a blonde with two ridiculously long ponytails, seemed to be doubled over panting for breath as a nearby brunette coughed.

"I...huh...told you not to skip calisthenics...meatball head."

The blonde glared weakly before turning to Ranma, who was now sipping a bottle of water while sitting on the table, the wood groaning slightly from the weight. "We'll be right with you as soon as we catch our breath!"

After another minute, the group managed to recover as the blonde made a pose. "Halt evildoer! Destroying a person's property, intending to torture an innocent...and making me run so hard is unforgivable! In the name of the Moon, I'm going to kick your ass for that!"

"You have got to be kidding me." Was Ranma's disdainful reply. "Then again, I suppose birds of a feather flock together." He shook his head rapidly, and then snapped at them with his previous intensity. "This has nothing to do with you! Back off! This worm owes me blood, and I will have my payment!"

Sailor Jupiter narrowed her eyes, "What the hell did that poor woman do to you to deserve this?" Electricity gathered in her hands as Venus kept a hand behind her, summoning a length of her Love-Me-Chain in preparation to throw it as Moon stepped forward.

"Yeah, it can't be as bad you think it is. Whoever is controlling you and gave you all that dark power has obviously made it seem worse that it really is."

Ranma stared at them blankly, then began to laugh, a laugh dripping bitterness and emotional poison that rattled the very windows. "What master? I obey no one, never have; never will! And even if I did have a master, how could anyone possibly exaggerate the wrongs she did to me? No one could ever make her betrayal of me worse than it already was!"

Moon flinched at the darkness before asking in a quiet voice, "What did she do that was so horrible that you want to kill her?"

Ranma stared at them, his gaze piercing and utterly empty. Finally, he broke the brittle silence with a quiet voice. "So, you want to know her sins? Very well. Picture me as a child, not more than an infant. My father had made a vow that he would train me to be a great martial artist, so I could marry the daughter of a friend of his who runs a dojo here in Tokyo. To this end, he begged my mother to let me leave. She finally agreed, but only if I signed a contract, made a solemn vow. I was far too young to even read, let alone understand what my parents were talking about, but she accepted my handprints on the paper as proof all the same. And so, I was bound by a vow I didn't even know the details of... at the time..."

Moon was certain that if she wasn't calling up every last reserve of courage, she would be recoiling in horror with the others as they realized that the woman he was going to kill was his own mother.

"My god..." Mercury was in shock at the thought that the person in front of them was so intent on killing his own mother. Jupiter's lightning had winked out with her horror, memories of her parent's death flashing in front of her eyes as Mars clenched her fists at the revelation, eyes shut tight.

Venus was calling on her days as a vigilante to remain firm in the face of this shock as Moon finally asked, afraid to hear the answer, "What was the vow?"

It was debatable whether Ranma had not noticed their distress, or simply didn't care; his eyes had glazed as he turned inward to more painful memories. Finally, he spoke up. "A suicide vow. If I failed to, and I quote, 'become a man among men', I would be honor-bound to commit hara-kiri. I never saw my mother once after the old man and I left- hell, I forgot I even had one. Then, barely a few weeks ago, I found out that my mother was still alive. I was enthralled with joy; my old man was many things on our trip, but a kind and loving parent wasn't one of them. I had seen kids with their mothers on my trip, and more than once I had envied them; what was it like? To have someone who loved you unconditionally, who picked you up when you were down and made the pain go away? It looked so... beautiful..." Ranma trailed off there. When he spoke again, his voice was ice and steel.

"And then, she came to the dojo, and I found out about the vow- and how serious she was. Wherever she went, that damn sword went with her- she bathed with it, slept with it, it never left her side even once. That hurt; do you know what it's like to long to see someone, then find out that they're perfectly willing to kill you? But I was used to that pain, it was far from the first time that I'd had to live with it, after all. What hurt worse was that I could be so close to her, close enough to touch her, yet she could never know who I really was, lest my life end right then and there. Know this- I wasn't afraid of dying; I'd come too close to death in the past for it to scare me. What I couldn't stand was that my death would leave the one person I had longed to prove my worth to so disappointed- when I gasped out my last breaths, she would be feeling nothing but shame, scorn and disgust. Do you have any ideas what that feels like?"

"That doesn't explain why you'd want to kill your own mother!" Jupiter finally had enough of listening, lightning beginning to course across her body, "You could have worked it out, maybe even defined what it meant to be a man amongst men! There has to be a better way than killing her!"

"It's not the vow that I'm here for!" Ranma roared. "That I could live with, though I could never have lived up to it as I was, not with my... condition." He hissed this last one with such vehemence that one might have expected to see him literally spitting poison as the word left his mouth.

Mercury spoke up, "A condition? You mean some sort of medical condition?"

"No, a mystical condition. My old man was never the brightest bulb in the mines. Thanks to his stupidity, I got stuck with a curse that caused me to turn into a girl whenever I got splashed with cold water. Turning into a busty little redhead is many things, but 'manly' is pretty far down on the list, don'tcha think?" Ranma sneered.

The Senshi, save for the silent Moon, blinked at that revelation and perhaps a little incredulously, Venus spoke up, "Okay, that's a pretty good answer, but when you think about it, living with a curse and not going crazy sounds pretty manly. Shows you have a strong mind right?"

Ranma stared at them incredulously, then gave a soft, tiny, tired smile. "I never thought about it like that... but it turns out it was all unnecessary. Barely a week ago, my secret came out." He thrust himself into a standing position, visibly bristling with fury. "It turns out she'd known about me having a curse all along- she just let our little 'charade' go on because she didn't want to spoil our fun." These last few words were spoken in a mocking, jeering tone. "She let me live with that desperation, that fear, that self-loathing, all because she thought it was a laugh! What kind of mother does something like that!" He screamed. "But that's not all, oh no, that's just the tip of the iceberg! There was much worse to come than that!"

"What the hell could be worse than all that?" Mars strode forward, "What in the world could so much worse, because heaven forbid if I think that you're blowing this out of proportion buddy, but what is it that is so much worse than what you just listed for us?" She held up a hand and made a look of mock-thoughtfulness. Then she snapped her fingers, "Oh, I know, maybe she wanted you to become a magical girl! Is that it? Because I swear if you keep this up I'm going to have to attack you just to shut off your little angst-fest!"

An expression of purest hatred shot across Ranma's face, a hiss like a thousand angry serpents clawing its way from his throat.

Mars stopped her rant at the hiss, paling as she realized that she had been on target with her guess and slowly backed away as the other Senshi shifted slightly, waiting to see if he would attack as Moon continued to stand in silence with an unreadable expression on her face.

Venus glared at Mars, "Good going Mars, he looks as mad as a tank in a bottle shop!"

Mars glared back before she saw Moon remaining still, "Moon, what are you doing, he's obviously going to attack!"

Moon turned to face Ranma, only barely flinching at his expression, "Your mother...why did she want you to become a magical girl?"

"Some sort of... family legacy!" Ranma hissed, clearly straining to keep himself coherent. "She put me through that hell with the contract, but never intended to call it in the way my old man thought she would, oh no, she intended to use it to force me to become all-girl! I have spent a year living with the constant **fear** of that, of losing my identity, my mind, my very being, and some **stranger** just taking over my name, my **life**, and nobody giving a damn about it! And then I find out that my **mother**, the one person in the world I dared to hope would accept me no matter **what**, I find she despises me because of what I **am**! She **arranged** for me to get this curse! She comes to me as a ray of hope, a chance of being loved, but she **never** wanted me! Is it any wonder I went **berserk!**" He screamed this last part at the top of his lungs.

"N-no, it can't be true! You're lying; no mother would act like that!" The Senshi were shivering from the waves of hatred and rage that were rolling off Ranma but it wasn't Moon who said that. It was Venus, and even then it was to try and make some sort of last desperate defense against the fact that, through it all, Ranma's eyes were calm and sane.

Mercury swallowed the lump in her throat, "Why? Why would she do something like that? To want from the beginning to have you cursed..."

"Because she's one of **you**." Ranma snarled. "She couldn't bear a second child, a daughter to properly carry on the mantle, **oh no**, she had to change her firstborn to take up her stupid mantle! Well, that ends here and now- I am **nobody's** puppet! If she doesn't consider me family, then I don't consider **her** family. She dies, here and now!" With that, he whirled around from them, only to shriek in frustration. **"Where is she?"**

"Right here...son." The scythe flew from its position into Ranma's hand as the reverse edge met a katana in a shower of sparks and screeching of metal meeting metal as Ranma snarled.

"Attacking from behind? So like you...mother."

The Senshi blinked at the figure holding the sword.

She was dressed in the boots, ribbon and short skirt that was almost stereotypical of magical girls but the rest of the costume was more a suit of armour while a scarf was wrapped around the woman's lower face as she pressed the sword harder against the scythe blade, but Ranma wasn't even shifting an inch.

She turned to the Senshi, "Quickly now, if we pool our power we can defeat him!" The Senshi acted out of reflex and attacks were charged but Moon stayed still, her eyes hidden as Ranma snarled and brought up his free hand, black flames wrapped around the fist that plunged into the woman's gut, sending her flying backwards as the Scythe span and deflected the incoming attacks, destroying more of the house and forcing Ranma to exit the rapidly collapsing building.

With a snarl he met a furious barrage of sword strikes before shouting "Black Chariot!" and before the woman could respond, she was met with a series of powerful slashes that bit deep into her armour and flesh before the scythe blade slammed into her knee and with a contemptuous flick, the woman was sent flying.

Ranma made to approach the downed woman only to stop as a ball of lightning tore a trench in front of him and a chain of hearts wrapped around his scythe, forcing him into a tug-of-war with the blonde senshi holding it.

"Get." A powerful pull snapped the chain like string.

"Out." A blast of black flames sent a recovered Genma flying when he tried to blind-side him.

"Of." A wind-blade tore through the earth to throw his mother off her feet.

"My." Blasts of fire were blocked by the scythe, the flames going to either side of him, leaving the armour untouched.

"WAY!" A dome of black fire engulfed the area, devouring a thick blanket of icy mist.

As the flames cleared, Ranma regarded the assembled Senshi and then his father, who seemed to be preparing another of his vacuum-blade attacks before he growled, the sound rumbling across the ruined property as he realized that he would have to retreat.

"**Fine!** If that's the way you want to play it! This round is yours, but I never lose the fight! I **will** be back, and you won't stop me the next time!"

He shouted this last part as he slammed the butt of his scythe into the earth, a whirling vortex of liquid darkness engulfing him and spinning furiously before unwinding back into the bowels of the earth from when it came, leaving not a sign (well, apart from all the rubble) that Ranma had ever been there.

Nodoka sighed in relief before wincing from the wounds inflicted by the scythe that Ranma had been using, Genma coming up alongside her and helping her stand as she sheathed her sword and turned painfully to the Senshi, who seemed relieved that the guy was gone.

"Thank you for your aid, it could not have come at a greater time."

She was cut off as Moon stepped up to her, and in a move that had the other Senshi gaping and would have shocked any citizens watching, slugged the woman with her Senshi-enhanced strength. "You disgust me." She turned to the others, unshed angry tears in her eyes, "We're leaving. Now." The others nodded; not wanting to see just how angry their leader was as Nodoka stared at them in shock.

Genma spoke up then, "What will you do if my son should appear again?"

Moon stopped and turned to glance at the man over her shoulder. "If he becomes a threat to Juuban, we will stop him. But I will never fight alongside that woman. No woman who would put their son through such torment is a person that I would associate the Senshi with. I have faced some terrible things as a Sailor Senshi, but that woman there." She shuddered in suppressed anger, "If she dares show her transformed form around us, she's as much as a target as that guy, because she is no hero."

With that, the Senshi alighted to the nearby rooftops and vanished as Nodoka stared after them in shock, before her teeth clenched and she pulled herself to her feet.

"Those idiotic, stupid brats! I've been doing this long before they even gained their magic, and they dare think that I am evil? I was merely ensuring the continuation of the family legacy, as my ancestors have done before me!"

Genma said nothing to that before asking, "I assume that they are as much as a target as my son?"

Nodoka's face twisted into a rictus of fury at the question. "He will pay for defying his duty to his family, Genma, I swear it. And if those inexperienced brats think that they can simply walk away with threatening me, then they will pay as well."

Genma said nothing, instead watching his wife return to her civilian guise and walk painfully to head to the Tendo Dojo before he sighed, "Stay strong son." He started walking after his wife to help her get to the Tendos, saying nothing as she ranted quietly.

"So, Wild Shadow, you have failed."

The alien voice was rich and deep, yet sinister- as though purest darkness had a voice. Ranma, clad only in his former civilian clothing, said nothing, instead standing straight and tall, eyes cast downwards, his posture at once defiant and submissive.

"I will not lie, I was overpowered and had no choice but to retreat." He proclaimed. Before he could say anything further (not that he himself was sure whether that would be begging for a second chance or defiance of his deeds), the first voice laughed, a genuinely amused sound that seemed strangely light and friendly.

"I am not disappointed in you, Wild Shadow. I am impressed; too many warriors, in your position, would have sold their lives recklessly on the chance for vengeance. That you, who have been so hurt, would still be capable of fighting with tactical acumen- that is why I made you my Hand."

Ranma looked up at this, staring straight into the great pillar of roaring, ebon-black flames perched on what had once been the throne pedestal in this decaying, darkness shrouded palace. Realizing it would be wise to stay on his Patron's good side, he bowed at the waist in the Western fashion as a sign of recognition and respect.

"Thank you, Lord Antares."

"Do not thank me just yet, Wild Shadow." The pillar pulsated as it spoke again. "I allowed you your attempt at vengeance, but now that it has been made, failure or not, you have given me your word that it shall be the work of the Empire of the Black Sun that shall be foremost in your mind."

"...Yes... master." Ranma reluctantly agreed.

"Do not be disheartened; I am certain that your enemy will come to claim you. So long as you do not allow it to compromise our mission, you may do whatever you wish with her."

"As the Burning Shadow commands." Ranma declared in his best officious tone of voice, bowing again. He grinned darkly, and sensed that his Patron was just as amused.

"Yes, as I do command. And this time, you will not face her alone. The Terrorforming must proceed..."

In the gloom around Ranma, glowing eyes lit up. First a few, then dozens, then thousands, shining like terrible stars in the all-concealing murk.

_It's hard to say precisely where this came from; a little boredom with the sanctified version of Nodoka, maybe a little disdain for the common fukufic, but it's here, it's out of our heads, and if you think that it could be expanded, well, just leave a review saying that you'd read this sort of thing as a full story._


	2. Alternate Curses 1

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** This idea was just something that occurred to us, to try our luck at the "what if (insert canonically cursed character here) fell into a different spring?" breed of drabble/oneshot. Seeing as how all sorts of crossovers have been engineered in the past, I figured we'd try a Slayers one.

A Rolling Stone Comes To A Stop

It was a normal, quiet, rainy afternoon in Nerima. Cars and bikes zipped purposefully along the streets, people flocked the sidewalks, vendors hawked their wares, and a teenaged boy who looked like an expert cosplayer was shouting abuse at a giant Chinese panda, which was running frantically down the road and doing its best to avoid karate, kung fu and kempo strikes from the boy.

...Okay, that wasn't so normal.

"I can't believe you'd do something like this, old man! No, wait, I can believe it! How long have you been hiding this from me, huh? Why on earth did you think it would be a good idea to make an arranged marriage for me and **never tell me?** I don't mind being back in Japan, though I still think we could have learned some good moves at that village in China, but you dragged me here to chain me to some girl I've never met before? Have you any brains at all!" The boy shouted, finally stooping, grabbing a fair-sized rock from the road, and pitching it at the panda in a manner that would have seen him snapped up by any baseball talent scout.

The panda dodged with startling agility for something that looked like it would be borderline obese even for pandas, which was a pretty lucky move, given that the stone promptly punched a hole clean through a concrete wall. With a defiant "whoof" it tore a street sign free with one paw and charged the boy, using it like a quarterstaff. Furiously it whirled and spun it around, forcing the boy on the defensive as he dodged and blocked, before it spotted and opening and slammed it down in an overhead swing that struck its victim directly on the head with enough force to bend the steel bar... And which had no effect, save to make his opponent look a little stunned for a few moments, whereupon he punched the panda when it made the mistake of letting its guard down, and sent it flying.

The boy rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and then casually pried the bent signpost from his head. "Dumb old man. You ain't going to give up on this, are ya?"

The somewhat dazed-looking panda struggled to look defiant, and shook its head.

"Alright, alright, let's go see this 'Soun Tendo'. I'll talk **him** out of this stupid idea."

The panda heaved itself to its feet, and the two ambled away together.

"WHAT!" Meanwhile, in another area of the same city, a father has just broken some important news to his daughters.

"I can't believe it, you got us engaged to some boy we've never met! Before we were even born!" Akane Tendo was in full force of temper tonight; first it was another day of having to deal with the perverts at school, especially Kuno, and now her father comes out of nowhere waving a postcard around saying that one of them was going to be engaged to a boy that they've never met, all because of some deal he made with a friend while they were young!

As Akane started grumbling under her breath at the sight of her father, Soun Tendo, dancing around the room, her elder sisters were of a different frame of mind as one picked up the dropped postcard.

"China huh? And he's supposed to have been doing martial arts training the whole time so he'll be fit at least. Wonder if he's good looking?" Nabiki commented to the eldest of the three sisters, Kasumi, as she studied the front of the postcard, a panda standing next to a cloaked figure. Kasumi shrugged while putting a hand under her chin.

"I hope he's not too young. Younger men are a bit boring." Nabiki smirked, she figured Kasumi would make a non-committal answer. If she knew the eldest sister properly, Kasumi would likely try to fade into the background like always, meaning that it was really a decision between either her, or her temperamental baby sister who seemed to be firmly in the mindset that all boys and men were probably perverts out to get into her pants thanks to Kuno and the others.

'And I still have no idea why, there's plenty of decent girls in school, hell I can count on both hands how many girls have better figures than Akane. Is it me, or did our school get the idiots out of all the guys in Nerima?' Nabiki glanced at the fuming Akane out of the corner of her eye, 'Heh, if this mystery guy picks Akane I hope he's got a high pain tolerance, cause baby sister will put him through the wringer.'

Just then, a knock at the door broke Nabiki out of her thoughts as Soun cried out, "He's here!" and dashed for the door, prompting the girls to get up and approach as Soun threw open the door and grabbed the soaking wet figure on the doorstep into a bearhug, "Welcome! Welcome!" and started to drag the cloaked person inside.

At least he tried to drag the person inside. Soun tried to pull him inside but the person remained unmoving like a statue and the impromptu tug of war continued for several seconds before a growl from outside prompted a chuckle as the person suddenly stepped inside, causing Soun to stumble, only Nabiki noticing that the person's footfalls on the wooden floor were heavier than normal before she filed it away for later.

'Wow, pretty fancy digs. I've not been somewhere this nice for a long time.' Ranma found himself thinking as he looked over the place his father had led him to. He knew that land prices and land tax in Japan were expensive, so a place this big had to have some major sort of income. He mainly thought about this nonsense to calm himself down; it wasn't that he was ashamed of his new form or anything, it was just that he had never particularly liked being touched. An armchair psychologist might speculate that it was due to having spent his entire lifetime learning how to beat on others, and being beaten as part of the training, but Ranma would have dismissed them as idiots. Once he was inside, he focused on the matter at hand. "I guess you're Mr. Tendo?" He asked, then blinked as he realized that the stranger who had greeted him at the door, and the three girls he was now confronted with, were staring at him in the brighter light. He sighed softly. "It's the ears, isn't it?" He said, trying to lighten the mood even as he absently traced the elongated, pointed hearing appendages that were, in his opinion, the least visibly human part about this alternate form.

Nabiki smirked, "Nice ears, but if you're trying to cosplay an elf you're going to need some extra practice." Internally she was blinking hard, "Okay, pointy ears and the skin colour I can work with, but what the heck is up with those scales?" In the brighter light she could easily see small patches of what were clearly scales as she muttered an automatic response to Kasumi's rebuke.

Soun for his part recovered quickly, "Yes, I am Soun Tendo, and you must be Ranma! Genma must have sent you ahead to get introduced early am I right?"

"Uh, not as such." Ranma admitted. He was starting to feel a little less confident, he didn't normally spend much time in situations where he wasn't expected to beat someone until they were unconscious - it wasn't as though that was the only way he interacted, but it made up at least half of his social interacts. "Old man, say hello to your old friend, will you?"

"Growf." Went the panda.

Soun blinked, before he chuckled, "Very funny, and its quite impressive to have a trained panda. Now seriously, where is Genma?" Nabiki was certain Kasumi noticed the panda shooting the strange teenage boy a glare at that, as if to say, "Yeah, very funny."

"It's a long story, and it pretty much explains why I look like this. Can I get some tea, please? And have you ever heard of a place called Jusenkyo?" Ranma answered.

Kasumi headed off to the kitchen as Nabiki and Akane sat down at the opposite Ranma and the panda while Soun sat at the head, nodding seriously, "Indeed, a terrible place, a valley full of natural springs, each one said to have a different curse to them. I assume that's how you came to be how you are, but what does this have to do with Genma?" Kasumi returned with a tray of tea and set it down on the table.

Realization hit a few seconds later, "Wait, you don't mean to tell me my old friend has been cursed?"

Ranma picked up a cup and held it, staring down into the boiling liquid for several seconds before he spoke. "It wasn't my idea to go there, y'know? Honestly, if the old man had bothered to wait and learn how to read 'n' speak the language, he probably wouldn't have gone either. But, we did, and, you guessed it, the old man and I both got cursed." He paused and then grinned wickedly. "Well, **he** got cursed - **I** got blessed." And, with that, he turned and splashed his tea into the face of the panda, whose form promptly melted and reformed into that of his disgruntled gi-wearing father. "Ain't that right, old man?" He asked.

"It doesn't need to be that hot, Ranma!" Genma snapped irately, ignoring the question.

"Genma! Old friend! It's been years!"

Ranma was quickly treated to a familiar sight at the Tendo Dojo, the Soun Tendo Waterfall of Joy as he embraced his old friend, Akane looking away in embarrassment, Kasumi smiling and setting out small snacks while Nabiki for her part was more interested in studying Ranma as an attempt to ignore the sight of her father weeping like a garden sprinkler.

"So how is this a blessing? Granted you got the bishonen thing down pat, but I don't see much to celebrate about."

Ranma smirked; he didn't normally show off, but he still liked to look superior. "I'm faster and stronger then I normally am, my senses are keener, I need less food and can go longer between meals, which believe me is very helpful, I still look human-"

"Ish." Akane interjected, apparently unable to help herself, but Ranma evidently didn't mind.

"-And I've got something very special that makes blue skin, purple hair, and scaly patches more then worth it. I can change back with hot water, just like the old man, but who'd want to?" He finished sincerely.

"I don't know." Nabiki replied, before she smiled mischievously, "But I know I'd like to see what you look like for real. After all, no point getting engaged if you're going to be hiding behind that form all the time."

"Probably couldn't take a punch without needing to switch." Akane muttered lowly, but not low enough to escape Ranma's hearing.

"You probably couldn't lay a hand on me in either form." He taunted back. "But if you want to try your luck, go right ahead, I'll take it. I ain't paying the bills afterwards, though."

"What bills?" Nabiki immediately interjected, the unpleasant specter of having to pay for something with her own money arising.

Ranma said nothing, but beside/behind him, Genma suddenly straightened up, pulled a wooden board out of nowhere, and smashed it in half over his son's head, to shocked outcry from all present. Ranma calmly turned to his father, apparently not even the slightest bit phased. "Where were you hiding that?"

"I thought it might come in handy." Genma replied, his tone just as carefree as his son's, so much that you'd never have believed he had just looked like he was trying to murder his own child.

'What the hell?' Nabiki's thought was echoed by Akane saying the same thing out loud before, "You just got hit over the head with a plank! How are you still conscious?" Soun, also slightly stunned, nodded as well.

'He didn't even flinch or move, it was like the board hit a rock. You have to be kidding me...' Nabiki shook her head with a small smile; "I hope that just because you're rock hard in the right places doesn't mean you have a head full of them."

There was a moment of silence before Kasumi blushed as she processed the first part of the statement, "Nabiki! That wasn't very nice!" Nabiki giggled as Akane gaped at her.

"What? He's made of rock! Should I have asked Mr. Saotome why he was trying to get blood from a stone?" She started laughing now before looking at Ranma, "Sorry, couldn't help myself."

Ranma couldn't help but grin back; the puns might be terrible, but at least she didn't seem to mind that he wasn't precisely flesh and blood. "I wouldn't recommend it. I may be living stone, but he's the one with rocks in his head." He quipped.

"Ranma! I taught you to respect your betters!" Genma snapped indignantly.

"Which better did I insult?" Ranma joked back.

Soun by this point had now recovered sufficiently to remember why everyone was here, "Right, well it seems as if there's no problems at all. Allow me to introduce my daughters to you! Kasumi, my eldest." The girl in question smiled politely, "Nabiki, my middle daughter." Nabiki smiled and waved in amusement, "And my youngest, Akane." Her response was a sniff and to turn away.

Soun smiled, "Pick one and she'll be your fiancée."

At this Ranma cocked his head. "Uh, sorry, what makes you think I want to pick any of them?" He asked.

Soun blinked, as if he wasn't expecting a refusal, "But you're here, that means that you agreed to marry one of my daughters!"

Ranma shook his head patiently, a calm expression on his face. "No, it doesn't. I came here to find out why my old man would make such a stupid promise and talk some sense into you. I'm no more interested in being hitched to someone I've never met before then your girls are. Well, alright, I'm probably more interested then she is, but I doubt anyone could be as hostile as her." He added, seemingly as an afterthought, pointing at Akane.

"Hey! At least I won't have to be married to some rock-headed freak like you!"

"Better a rock head then a flat chest and a short temper." Ranma mocked back.

"Flat chest! Why you!" Forgetting about Ranma all but admitting his skin was made of stone, Akane drew back leveled a powerful slap on his cheek, before yelping and nursing her injured hand while Nabiki shook her head, muttering something under her breath.

"Yeah, this is going about as well as a house on fire. Look, just tell the old man that you want to call this stupid mess off, and we'll be out of your hair like that, okay?" Ranma said reasonably, snapping his fingers to emphasize how fast they would be gone once this was solved. "Nobody's interested on our end, the old man can't make me do anything now, so let's just cut to the chase, alright?"

Nabiki shrugged, "Well, I wouldn't say no-one's interested. Besides, you really want to go out in that?" To emphasize her finger pointing out at the storm, lightning flashed with ominous intent, "So how about just staying the night?" She suddenly flashed a mischievous smile, "Unless you're scared that one of us will take a chisel to you in the night?"

Ranma didn't rise to that, instead looking out of the window and wondering when the storm had blown back and gotten so much fiercer. Finally, he nodded slowly. "If you're sure you don't mind us being here; my old man says a lot of stuff that he does the opposite of, but he always told me it was wrong to take advantage of people's hospitality. We've lived through worse, we don't want to impose..."

Soun blinked before muttering under his breath, "That doesn't sound like Saotome, he'd empty a buffet table if it had a sign saying 'free food' on it."

Recovering, he clapped his hands, "Nonsense! Genma is an old friend of mine and it would be rude of me to simply force him out into such a storm. And besides, I know what its like to be traveling on the road for a long time, so I'm certain that have a soft place to rest would be a welcome pleasure. Please, please, feel free to stay as long as you want." With that the conversation was ended as Kasumi went to set up the guest room while Soun took Genma off to the side.

"Your son is...interesting, old friend. Although I'm not sure where he got that line about not taking advantage of people's hospitality, considering that one time while we were training under...the master." He glanced around, before reminding himself that the old man was not going to be returning any time soon.

Genma sighed loudly. "It's all the fault of that terrible spring. I don't know if there's some kind of curse being woven over his behavior and way of thinking as well, or if it's simply the false confidence from the fact that few people can actually hurt him now, but he's become unnaturally assertive and defiant. He used to be such a good boy, always doing what he was told and never dreaming of defying his dear old father! Ah, the cruel hands of fate!" Genma cried, dramatic tears beginning to trickle down his face.

It should be noted that Genma was exaggerating. Ranma had never been the spinelessly loyal and obedient student he was making him out to be, and had in fact often been prone to brutally beating on Genma when Genma tried to make Ranma do something that he truly didn't want to do. What Jusenkyo had done was highlight just how dangerous trusting Genma could be (Ranma knew and appreciated how lucky he was to have his particular curse, instead of, say, slack-jawed idiot with brain of a dead stump), so he was now warier of his father's manipulations, and made it that much harder for Genma to physically coerce Ranma into obedience.

Soun of course didn't believe a word of it, but nodded reassuringly all the same, "There, there, old friend. Still, something hopeful may yet come out of this, and we can certainly try and stall for time to make the agreement work out. This is just a slight wrinkle, nothing compared to the trials we've faced in our youth, and with the two of thus working together, we'll have your son engaged in no time."

Genma promptly pulled a dramatic stance. "Indeed, Tendo! Why, that middle daughter of yours actually seems interested, and the boy was alright with her too. With our careful guidance and prompting, they'll realise their destiny is to be together and fall into each other's arms in no time!" He laughed triumphantly.

Soun winced, "Ah yes, Nabiki. I'll grant she seems interested old friend, but I would be very careful, I'm not sure if she's actually interested in the agreement, or simply curious. Nabiki has a way of getting what she wants and then moving on so it wouldn't do to focus our attention on her if she simply wants to see what your son's real form looks like. We should be prepared for the possibility that she'll simply become bored at some point." Under his breath he muttered, "Either that or wait for your son to run out of money."

He looked thoughtful, "Still, her intelligence combined with your son's confidence could be a good match..."

Genma clapped Soun on the back, "That's the spirit Tendo! Now then, lets have a drink to the eventual union of our children and plan how to best guide them." Soun nodded and before long they were drinking sake and before long were 'planning' how to unite the schools in between drunken singing.

Meanwhile in the guest room and in her bedroom, Nabiki and Ranma blinked as they settled down for the night as a shiver ran up their spines. Nabiki decided to check her loose cash, in case something went missing while Ranma decided that if his pops was up to another of his tricks, he was going to punch him extra hard in the morning.

Neither knew that their lives were going to get a whole lot weirder from now on.

_…You know, I wrote this, and I can hardly believe what we came up with. We figured it'd just be a short little drabble, not this… whatever it is. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed it nonetheless. As to why it's called "Alternate Curses 1" in the dropdown box... well, we're fairly sure we're likely to come up with other stories where one character fell into a very different spring, be it Ryoga in Spring of Drowned Magical Girl, or Shampoo in Spring of Drowned Child, so it doesn't hurt to cover your bases. Besides, the chapter title won't fit._


	3. Family Resemblance

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** Just our own unique twist on a crossover that invariably seems to have either Ranma falling in love with Kagome, Kagome as a friend/cousin of Akane's, or Ranma as a reincarnation of Inuyasha.

Family Resemblance

It was not often Kagome Higurashi got truly annoyed at Inuyasha but this was one of those times as the high school student grumbled to herself.

"Another day, another damn jewel shard. I swear if it wasn't for the fact that the world was going to end every time Naraku got his hands on one I'd say just let him have the stupid things! Stupid Inuyasha! I've got an algebra test coming up and he picks now of all nights to drag me down that well!" The girl trudged after the half-demon in question in a decidedly foul mood while he ignored the complaints, though his ears twitched as Kagome favored her situation with a few choice words before she looked up, and blinked.

"Uh, Inuyasha?"

The half-demon sighed and turned around. "What is it now woman?"

Kagome simply pointed up. Inuyasha's eyes widened at the sight of a new moon in the sky before dashing towards the Bone Eater's Well, Kagome following after. Even as she watched, the new moon reached its zenith and the half-demon began his inevitable transformation into a full human.

"Inuyasha, wait!" Kagome grimaced as the half-demon turned human ignored her and reached the well, "Its not going to...never mind." She sighed as Inuyasha dove in and there was silence for a moment before a yelp of pain echoed out as she leaned over the edge with another sigh, "Stop sulking down there and get out, its filthy and its going to rain soon."

"Dammit! We've been delayed long enough!" Inuyasha complained, even as he clambered back out of the well. "We don't have time to be stuck here because the Well is acting up - we've got to get back to hunting for Naraku and the Jewel Shards!" And with that he promptly threw himself back down again, to no avail.

"In case you've forgotten, we haven't had a good clue to either of those things for almost two weeks now." Kagome pointed out dryly, sighing in exasperation as Inuyasha ignored her, climbed up again, and jumped back down again. "I don't know why it's not working... but honestly, this is actually a good thing."

Inuyasha was too startled to finish climbing out of the well again, instead directing a "have you lost your mind?" gaze at her over the stone lip he was clinging to.

"Well, think about it." Kagome protested, not looking that look. "When have we ever not gotten into even worse trouble because of you insisting on keeping your hunts going even on this night? Chasing Naraku and the shards of the Shikon Jewel aren't safe at the best of times, but do so while practically wearing a neon sign flashing 'helpless mortal now, please kill me!' just makes you look stupid!" She emphasized, at which Inuyasha looked offended; he knew he wasn't exactly educated, but cracks about his intelligence were one of the easiest ways to get him into a fighting mood. "We really should have started taking shelter on the night of the new moon long before now - between Naraku wanting us dead and every two-bit demon crawling out of the woodwork if they sense a half-demon on its humanity night, it's only been pure luck we haven't all gotten killed!"

"Alright, alright, stop barking, we'll stay, alright?" Inuyasha grumbled. Though he never would have admitted it, Kagome's arguments, particularly her last one, had struck some vulnerable points with him. Gruff and irascible as he was, Inuyasha was fiercely protective of his small circle of friends, and he'd always been guilty about the danger he put them in on the nights he became all-human. He just hadn't been able to resist the stubbornness driving him to pursue Naraku, and he certainly couldn't bring himself to appear weak by admitting that he cared for Kagome and the others.

Kagome smiled happily; not only would Inuyasha be safe here, what with the much smaller number of demons running around, she would get an extra night of warm, soft beds, modern showers and all the other conveniences of being home - a win-win situation, in her book.

"Oh mom! You don't have to worry, Inuyasha's staying the night tonight!" Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her daughter's voice as she turned to enter the living room and greet her daughter's friend.

"Do you have to announce it to everyone?" That must be Inuyasha, such a nice boy, and it was strange but something about him always reminded her...

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head. No, it wouldn't do to get up in those memories, she had to be strong for Kagome and Sato. It would have been what he would have wanted her to do. She was about say something when she saw Inuyasha, and the words died in her mouth.

Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow at the expression of shock on the face of Kagome's mother, and in true form, had to make a comment, "Do I have something on my face?" Kagome turned to berate Inuyasha when she saw the expression on her mother's face.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Kagome stepped forward in confusion, in all the years her mother had raised her Kagome had never seen her surprised, nervous or confused. Even that one time Sato set off a firecracker behind Kagome as a prank, her mother hadn't even flinched, just turned around and grounded Sato before comforting her. Now though, it looked like she had seen a ghost.

Mrs. Higurashi, for her part, simply whispered, "Ranma?" before her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

"Mom!" Kagome caught her mother and immediately sent a glare to Inuyasha, "What the hell did you to her?"

"Me? She just walked out, took on look at me and went all pale! I thought that there was a spider on my face or something."

Kagome glared at him before focusing her attention back on her mother, "Help me get her to her room." Inuyasha was about say something, but something in Kagome's expression told him that arguing was a bad idea as he stepped forward and silently helped Kagome take the woman upstairs.

Mrs. Higurashi woke up and blinked to find herself in her bed and a worried Kagome hovering over her, "Are you okay mom? You scared me pretty badly when you fainted like that?"

Fainted? Oh...the boy, that voice was certainly Inuyasha's but his hair...

Mrs. Higurashi sat up and smiled at her daughter, "I'm fine dear, just..had a bit of a shock."

"A shock! Mom, I've seen you stare down street punks and not even so much as quiver afterwards! You took one look at Inuyasha and fainted! I mean, I know he's not the most good-looking guy" She ignored the half-demon sitting at the far end of the room glaring at her, "But its not enough to make you faint! What happened?"

"Yeah, and what was up with calling me Ranma?" Inuyasha walked over, his own curiosity piqued by the reaction of the woman who from what Kagome was saying, could give his brother a run for his money in the area of calm and collected.

Mrs. Higurashi, for her part, simply looked down sadly, "I'm sorry for scaring you like that Kagome. The reason I fainted was because for a moment...he looked so much like your father."

Kagome froze up. "...My father?" She asked, at last. Inuyasha may not have had his actual canine ears in this form, but they still perked up all the same; he had occasionally wondered about the male half of Kagome's parentage.

"Look behind that wall hanging; I keep my special photo album in a locker built into the wall there." Mrs. Higurashi told her gently. Her daughter blinked in shock, then silently did as she was told, handing the surprisingly small book to her mother, who then flipped it open and showed a specific photograph to Kagome, Inuyasha unable to resist sidling into a position where he could see what the fuss was about.

"This is what your father looked like when he was about your age, Kagome." The matriarch of the Higurashi family told her eldest child.

Inuyasha blinked at the photo of a young man in silk clothing before muttering, "I'll be damned; he really does look like me."

Kagome nodded; the hair was done up in a pigtail, but the face… it was like looking at a carbon copy of Inuyasha in his human form. Put the Tessaiga on his shoulder and the image would have been complete.

"He acted a bit like you too, Inuyasha." Mrs. Higurashi commented, a soft, sorrow-tinged happiness in her reminiscence. "He lived a wild life, and he had a real knack for getting into trouble. Why, I'll never forget how we first met..."

"Like Inuyasha, sounds like he was a real handful. How did you meet him, he doesn't exactly sound like the kind of guy you fall in love with at first sight." Kagome leaned forward, eager for a story as Inuyasha listened in with interest.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled wistfully as she remembered. "It was a bright, clear, sunny day. Father was out on a trip to a friend's shrine and I was home alone, sweeping up the leaves in the garden. I heard a sort of howling noise, looked up, and saw him falling out of the sky. He hit the well-house headfirst, smashed through the roof, and landed square at the bottom of the well - I swear he practically doubled the depth of it. I immediately helped him, what with his arm being fractured and all, but an hour later, his arm was good as new." She told them.

Kagome was sceptical, "He fell out of the sky and only suffered a fractured arm? What was he, some kind of superhero?" Inuyasha's face scrunched up.

"That doesn't make any sense. No normal human could survive something like that."

"I was quite surprised about it myself." Kagome's mother assured her. "That was one of the reasons I rescued him; I wanted to know where he had come from. He was somewhat skittish, for reasons I wouldn't find out about until later, but he told me that he had been fighting a monstrous old man in a different part of town, and that he had been thrown here as a result of losing the battle." She giggled softly before adding, "But he was insistent that it was just a minor setback and he would win the next round."

"Sounds like someone I know." Kagome quipped, sending a sly glance towards Inuyasha.

Inuyasha scowled at the insult, but said nothing. "So, what, it was love at first sight or something?" He asked, not bothering to keep his skepticism from his voice - he'd heard people talk about such things before, and he didn't believe a word of it.

"Oh, no." Mrs. Higurashi told him pleasantly; if Inuyasha's blunt prying had offended her, she didn't show it. "He came back several times before we started to get interested. At first, it was because he knew he could come and see me for treatment if a fight went bad and he ended up nearby, but then he started coming by just to talk to me."

"What did you two talk about? I mean, did he tell you why he was fighting?"

"Oh, he was a professional martial artist, so he had many challengers, as well as a small number of permanent rivals he was always getting into fights with." Kagome's mother replied. "As for what we talked about... many things. Your father didn't really have anyone to talk to, so he was just glad to have someone who would listen to him and not judge him for things that weren't his fault."

"He got blamed for stuff he didn't do huh? I can sympathize." Inuyasha's eyes narrowed, memories of Kikyo coming to the fore, "Still, he must have been strong to have so many challengers."

"One of the strongest around." Mrs. Higurashi agreed. "Yet also so very sweet and shy, if you excused the roughness around his edges." She added.

Kagome was intrigued now; her father seemed like a constant paradox the way her mother described him. "So, how did you two get together?"

At that, her mother looked distant. "It's a long story, and rather private." She said at last. "Suffice to say, our wedding day was the happiest of our lives... at least, until the day you were born. That was an even happier day."

Inuyasha grimaced, "So what happened to him." Kagome looked sad for a moment.

"He died in a car crash." Inuyasha scoffed.

"Yeah, don't believe that. I guy who fell from the sky and suffered only a fractured arm, killed in a car crash, don't believe it."

Kagome immediately rounded on the half-demon, "Of course he died in a car crash, Grandpa and Mom told me when Sato was born!" She turned to her mother, "Isn't that right mom?"

Mrs. Higurashi looked downcast, sorrow and guilt equally evident in her body language. "That is what we told you, dear... but Inuyasha is right; a mere car crash wouldn't have been able to hurt your father seriously."

Kagome froze, shaken to her core. "...What?" She finally asked, tears in her words, if not her eyes. Her mother had lied to her about her father's death? Did that mean that he was still alive... that he had abandoned her and Sota?

Mrs. Higurashi closed her eyes as the memories returned in full force, "It was a sunny day when he left, you were too young to remember him and Sota was a newborn. His rivals, the more fanatical ones, had finally found us and Ranma knew that if they attacked, we would get caught in the crossfire. So he decided to take the fight to them, agreeing to meet them at a place of their choosing." Tears began to leak out now, "He was so serious then, none of the usual confidence that was his usual mood, it was like he knew that he may not be returning."

She turned a page to reveal a final picture in the middle of one page, taking pride of place by itself, "Your grandfather took this photo just before he left." It showed an older Ranma walking down the road, head turned with a small smile and arm raised in a wave, "He never returned but there was reports on the news that a section of the Nerima district was leveled in a massive explosion. After that, Ranma's father came to our door, and told us that Ranma had vanished during the battle that caused the explosion."

Kagome was unable to speak a word, she just reached out hesitantly and gently touched the picture. Inuyasha was the one to break the silence. "You haven't seen him since?" He asked, with surprising gentleness for someone who took blatant pride in his roughness, crudity and vulgarity.

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head, voice cracking slightly, "The other rivals were found badly burnt and beaten at the bottom of the crater but there was a depression where another person was, along with footprints and a trail indicating someone was dragged away..." Mrs. Higurashi finally broke down and started weeping.

Inuyasha was doing everything he could to look calm as he could, but inside, he was panicking: if there was one thing he truly hated, almost as much as Naraku, it was women crying and being upset. "Then doesn't that mean he could still be alive?" He blurted, the thought barely having time to form in his head before it was off his tongue.

Mrs. Higurashi nodded, "If he is, then it means that he could very well be a prisoner to whatever or whoever took him." She sniffled slightly, "And it's that possibility that gives me hope that he will come back. Your father loved you Kagome, when you were born he was overjoyed, and I know that he would do anything and everything to find a way back, to free himself from whatever prison he is in, to see you again."

Kagome hugged her mother while Inuyasha hung back and let the pair have their moment and after several minutes, Mrs. Higurashi finally broke the hug, "Thank you dear. Now then, I think you two should head to bed." Kagome nodded and stood up, Inuyasha following after her in silence and although the half-demon slept soundly, Kagome lay awake, wondering and thinking.

The next morning, it seemed everything was back to normal and before long it was time for Inuyasha and Kagome to head through the well.

"Come on Kagome, time's wasting! Sango and the priest must be wondering where we are - and the runt, too." Inuyasha called.

"Coming!" Kagome called back, exasperated, as she struggled with her backpack - she was sure it hadn't been this heavy last night!

Inuyasha held the well shelter's door open, waiting impatiently for Kagome to show up. For a brief moment, the idea of talking to her about what had happened the previous night tantalized him, but he decided against it. Though Inuyasha had his (many) flaws, he knew that he wasn't exactly the smoothest talker in their little party, and he really wasn't in any position to talk about fathers. Best to keep his peace, lest he say something that would see him taking a trip to the earth's core. Still, he reasoned he could be a little more tolerant of Kagome's annoying habits today, in recognition of what she had to be feeling.

Kagome, meanwhile, was caught up in thoughts over what she had been told about her father. She contemplated trying to talk to Inuyasha, then decided against it; Inuyasha wasn't exactly the most sensitive guy she knew, and fathers certainly wasn't a subject he'd be able to talk about. Sango, or even Shippo, would probably be much better choices if she had to talk about it.

Neither aware of what the other was thinking, in unison they leapt into the well and vanished back into their quest to stop Naraku.


	4. A New Job

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** Just so you know, this was entirely written by Gideon020 as a prelude to the actual story. As for why its here instead of on his profile? He decided that it could work as a oneshot on its own and it lets him rope me in as a co-writer in this little exercise. Like it, lump it, frankly he's the kind of author who's happy if you even read it at all. That said, enjoy.

A New Job & A New Beginning

It was, Ranma Saotome decided as he sat on a tower overlooking a train station, a very interesting three months.

Everything had started out fairly simple; get thrown out of the window for an early morning spar, waking up the rest of the Tendo family except for Kasumi, who always seemed inhumanly capable of waking up before Genma and Ranma to make breakfast.

And then, the letter arrived for him at school. Ranma shook his head as he remembered the meeting with the principal.

"_Well now, Keikei, it seems that you've caught the attention of some very prestigious people. Yousa been offered a job at Mahora Academy!"_

Ranma shook his head. "A job…I never thought I'd actually be hired while still in high-school. Still, old man Konoemon seemed confident."

Ranma's thoughts drifted as he remembered the old man who had sent the letter and brought him here.

The door opened and Ranma turned in his seat, blinking at the sight of an old man dressed in robes, looking more like some kind of hermit than the principal of a school.

As the principal stood up to shake the man's hand, Ranma was thinking only one thing. _'Oh god, please don't let this guy be some kinda nutcase or looking to make an engagement. I don't need any more crap in my life. Please, please just let him be here for a job offer.'_

"Ohoho, there's no need to look so nervous young man, rest assured that me offer is genuine although I imagine that you would like to know the details?" The old man smiled in that grandfatherly manner which all old people seemed to possess, making Ranma relax despite himself.

"Uh yeah, about that, it's not like I'm ungrateful but what exactly do you need a high school student to do at a place like Mahora Academy?" Ranma narrowed his eyes slightly; everyone heard of Mahora Academy, it was the kind of school that seemed so exclusive because of its location, regardless of the fact that they seemed to be entirely privately funded, meaning anyone could become a student, rich or poor. And that was ignoring the fact that it was an all-girls school.

"Ohoho, the answer is simple my boy; I have been looking for a P.E. teacher who is willing to help his or her" Ranma flinched at the knowing look in the old man's eyes. "students reach their athletic potential. Not only that, I wish to further ask that if any of the students are interested, you teach them basic martial arts for self-defense."

A twinkle appeared in the old man's eyes. "Not only that, if you accept this offer you will have my full support in closing this current chapter of your life and starting anew."

Ranma's eyes widened, before they narrowed. "You think you have what it takes to solve the kind of problems I have old man?"

The old man smiled. "Yes, I have what it takes to ensure that your past is settled and you can look to the future without any hesitation or regret."

Ranma studied the old man in front of him, before offering his hand. "You've got yourself a teacher, old man."

"Ohoho, I look forward to having you on board, Ranma Saotome. My name is Konoe Konoemon, and allow me to be the first to welcome you to Mahora Academy."

The Tendos weren't much of a hassle, particularly with the group of lawyers Konoemon sent to make it quite clear that a verbal agreement could never be used to bind Ranma into his current situation, although Ranma would admit that he felt some actual pity for Soun Tendo as the man sat on the front porch of the Tendo home weeping bitterly.

One thing he wouldn't miss was Genma.

"Boy! I demand that you take me with you!"

Ranma turned and his eyes narrowed. "The hell I should! In case it didn't sink in pops, I'm making sure that nobody from here drags all the crap we've done here to that school, and that means I sure as hell am not letting a fat bastard like you come along! You'd probably engage me to half the school just to get a quick yen and free breakfast!"

Genma folded his arms. "Then go back in there and marry Akane, I'm not going to let just walk out of an agreement of family honor!"

Ranma paused, before turning his head slightly. "Then I have no family." With that he walked off to deal with Ukyo and Shampoo.

Ranma paused in his reminiscing at the memories of Ukyo and Shampoo before closing his eyes and wiping away a tear. He didn't need to remember that moment, not now.

'_No, that's something for another day, when I'm ready. At least the old ghoul decided to forfeit Shampoo's claim upon hearing who I'd be working for.'_

Ranma paused at that. Cologne hadn't just been willing to forfeit Shampoo's claim. If anything, she was actually terrified of not doing so. Just what sort of power did that old man have to terrify Cologne of all people?

"**Whatever that power is, it pales in comparison to me."**

Ranma shook his head with a smile. "Almost forgot about you. I guess you want me to put you back on?" The teenage teacher reached into a pocket of his pants and pulled out a pair of black gloves with white lines tracing the fingers and palms, a pair of dark blue jewels on the wrists glowing with an inner light.

Ranma studied the gloves for a moment and smiled ruefully; this was the artifact that cured his curse and destroyed the influence of the Nekoken. And was now forcibly a part of him for the rest of his life.

Ranma looked back at the memories.

"Man, this place sure is spooky when it's empty." Ranma whistled to himself as he walked down the rows of empty buildings during the late afternoon. The entirety of Mahora and the surrounds was emptied for a series of major and minor repair programs and other general maintenance and that meant a brief holiday for the students while the work was done.

For Ranma, it meant days of constant cram schooling to get his up to par in order to actually qualify as the new P.E. teacher. While most students from Furinkan could barely associate Ranma with studying, Ranma himself wasn't exactly an idiot; you couldn't be as a martial artist. With the madness surrounding Nerima however, it wasn't exactly easy to study, especially when it came to homework.

Besides, if he didn't perform to expectations, Ranma would lose his job before it began. The pigtailed teen shook his head, he couldn't think that way, not if wanted this job. There was no way in hell he was going back to Nerima, back to that madness.

Unfortunately, Ranma was too caught up in his thoughts to notice the open sewer grating until he dropped into the darkness. Blinking, Ranma looked around the shaft he was falling down and then down towards the bottom before raising an eyebrow with an incredulous smile. "You gotta be kidding right?"

Glancing around, Ranma spied a pipe and shifting his body, grabbed it and brought his fall to a halt, looking up at the manhole high above him, and the dark water of the sewer below with a grimace. "I don't need this." Another glance around allowed the teen to spot what appeared to be a doorway and he started climbing.

The doorway was sealed from the inside, but it was wood and badly degraded from who knew how many years of exposure to water and moisture, allowing Ranma to easily break it down and enter the corridor beyond.

"Huh, the architecture is certainly different here, kinda looks like a spookier version of the stuff down over at Library Island." Ranma shook his head as he remembered the giant library island that went down deep underground and how expeditions to find new sections and thusly new books were taken by one of the clubs.

But this was in the middle of Mahora, close to where the massive World Tree was situated and to top it off, there was a very distinctly…dark feeling to the corridor as Ranma walked down it, passing what appeared to be images of battles, kings and generals and more, while dominating the images were the presence of a pair of gauntlets, hovering over the scenes like some kind of god.

"Freaky; bet the old man would like to hear about this place." Ranma knew that Dean Konoemon didn't know the full extent of the ruins that ran underneath Mahora and there was a standing bounty for new information, a rather nice one as well.

"Heheh, money in my pocket and no Nabiki to steal my cash with her ridiculous fees, I'm starting to like this place already." Ranma laughed to himself as he reached the end of the tableau of increasingly violent imagery before reaching a massive set of doors and negligently pushing them open, exerting a little of his strength to do so as they swung open with a screeching of rusted metal, before the hinges shattered and the doors collapsed into the room with a deafening crash.

As the dust began to settle, a coughing Ranma stepped over the doors and into the chamber, managing to whistle at the expanse before him.

The chamber was white marble, light from a series of crystals set high in the roof reflecting off mirrors set into the walls to illuminate the dominating piece of the chamber, a pedestal with a pair of gloves set in place, secured by badly rusted chains.

And from the moment Ranma saw them, he instantly had the urge to put them on, to see how they fit on his hands. He was already halfway towards the gloves when he paused and shook his head, where the hell had those thoughts come from? Shrugging, he yanked off the chains and picked up the gloves.

If the condition of the chains had been any indication, the gloves had to be ancient. And yet they felt brand new, like time itself was afraid to even so much as glance at them, that was the kind of vibe the black leather gave off and were Ranma a more sensible person he would have never entertained the possibility of putting them on.

But even with the new sensibilities instilled in Ranma from his rapid tutoring, he was still Ranma Saotome and so he shrugged, and slipped the gloves on before inspecting them. "Heh, these don't look too bad."

"**I'm glad you approve, because you are now mine."**

Ranma didn't have time to even voice his confusion before pain engulfed him. The last thing the teen experienced was the sound of his screams.

Ranma shook his head as he slipped on the gloves. "Just wish you didn't have to be so…painful, about how you claimed a new owner." He shook his head at the familiar feeling of the gloves fusing to his skin and then tapping into his blood, the price for allowing him to take them off in the first place.

"**You were weak then, and I cannot abide having a weakling as my possessor. The curses on you were chains preventing you from continuing on your path to higher pinnacles of power, pinnacles that I can bring you."**

"And in return you claim the right to eat my soul if I try to get rid of you and I'm stuck with you for the rest of my natural life. Yeah, I get it. At least you helped me out when Happosai sent that letter to Dean Konoemon for that duel in the forest."

The entity that gave the gloves their life snorted, the jewels twinkling evilly. "**Not much of a duel, for even after all this time, my power is still known amongst mortals, and rightfully feared."**

"Ranma my boy, I hate to say it but for once I'm going to have to side with Genma and Soun here. Besides, I want to see my darling Ranma-chan!" Ranma sneered at the ancient grandmaster of the Anything Goes style as his hands clenched slightly in his pockets.

'_Lecherous bastard, I'm going to enjoy the look on your face in a few minutes.'_ Ranma glanced over at his father and Soun Tendo; both had determined looks on their faces, _'Is it really that important to marry me off to a Tendo? Is it? Well, might as well get this show on the road.'_

Without a word, Ranma dropped down from the streetlight where he had been sitting lazily and walked over to the three martial artists, stopping when he was fully in the light of one of the lights, and pulled his hands out of his pockets, revealing a pair of black gloves with dark blue jewels twinkling evilly on the wrists.

The effect was immediate, Happosai paled until he was bone-white. "R-ranma…where did you get those gloves?"

Ranma made a show of looking them over, before pushing his Ki into them, the gloves reacting immediately as the white lines that stood out on the dark leather suddenly blazed with blue fire. "Found them in the sewers underneath the school. Interesting pair, I forgot what they're called in the books I read, but these things are pretty damn neat since they got rid of my curse and the Neko-ken."

Happosai gave a sickly smile. "Well then, that's something to be congratulated about. Let's go Genma, Soun, we're done here."

Genma sputtered while Soun looked confused. "But master, what about the agreement? The joining of the schools?"

Happosai shot his student a withering look. "Ranma-chan is gone, and with it my reason for bothering to be here. That boy is beyond your reach and your schools are not going to be joined so drop it Genma, because if you tried to force the issue, then this entire area is going to be reduced to a smoking crater thanks to those gloves!"

Genma actually whined at that point. "But master!"

Happosai whacked him as Ranma watched in amusement. "Don't give me that tone! Those are the Hands of Chaos! They've reduced entire cities to ash in the blink of an eye!"

"All the greater reason to have Ranma marry Akane!"

Happosai shook his head. "No it isn't." The old grandmaster turned to Ranma. "Ranma, I consider you free of any obligation to Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo, and I give you permission to continue practicing the Anything Goes as your own personal style."

Ranma smiled, his plan was working perfectly and he didn't have to throw a punch yet. Then he cursed silently, he had just jinxed himself.

A despairing shout of, "The schools must be joined!" proved him correct as Soun charged forwards and launched into an attack, forcing Ranma onto the defensive as the man attacked with strength and speed born of desperation.

'_Man, I'll give Mister Tendo some credit, if this is the Tendo style then it's too bad he never bothered to teach it.' _Ranma blocked the strikes before he whirled and landed a roundhouse, knocking the man back.

He twitched and bent out of the way of a strike from Genma trying to blindside him. A glance showed Happosai bounding away, obviously intent on going back to Nerima and avoiding whatever impending disaster was about to occur.

"_Hey, you awake? Cause I think now is the time to show me that you're not blowing smoke up my ass."_ Ranma felt something shift in his mind as the intelligence inside the gloves woke up.

"**Watch mortal, and know the power of the Hands of Chaos."**

The flames on the gloves glowed brighter and Ranma winced as he dodged, feeling the effect of his Ki now being drained heavily to fuel what was about to occur. He definitely needed a lot more training if he was going to be able to fight with these things active for an entire fight.

He focused the surge of magic he was receiving from the gloves and cocked a fist back, causing the two fathers to back off, and punched the ground.

The blast of dark flame that knocked the two men backwards made Ranma gape in shock at the flames consuming the nearby mailbox and streetlight, sparks flying into the darkness as the metal melted, warped and finally the pole collapsed under its own weight, landing with a crash.

Ranma looked around, and sighed in relief at seeing the unconscious Genma and Soun lying nearby, clothes singed and some burns on them but they were breathing. Which was good, Ranma didn't want to have to go as far as killing someone to get his point across.

He looked around the ruined street and at the flames still burning cheerfully, giving off radiance and heat even though they were jet black, when he heard the sound of sirens. "Shit! Better get the hell out of here!"

As he left, he glanced back and to his surprise, felt himself smiling at the prospect of mastering the power now literally in his hands.

The sound of the bell in the tower jolted Ranma out of his musings, and a glance down showed the time to be 8 o'clock; it was nearly time for the first trains to arrive with students ready for the day ahead. Fishing around in a pocket, Ranma checked his schedule and the classes he would be having for the day.

After the fight with Genma and Soun and waiting for a week for Ryoga to show up, which he didn't, Ranma took the train back to Mahora and resumed getting his qualifications. Surprisingly everything had gone by smoothly after that, he had been expecting Shampoo or Kodachi to try and show up but he hadn't so much as heard a peep out of Nerima.

"Let's see, I have to meet up with Takamichi at the entrance and have a meeting with the Old Man about me helping out some new English Teacher. Ah man, I hate subbing." Ranma shuddered as he remembered some of the classes he had acted as a substitute for and thanked the Kami for all that tutoring, especially when it came to…algebra.

Shaking his head, Ranma remembered what Principal Konoemon had told him about the new teacher that was arriving. "Hmm, English teacher, supposed to be a real prodigy, but what else…ah, right, he's the new homeroom teacher for The Madhouse." Ranma knew that he felt the Hands of Chaos shudder at the memory.

Class 2-A, the class with the lowest test scores, the one where half the students appeared to be in their early twenties and had forced Ranma to review their files just to confirm that those girls were actually fifteen years old. But what had firmly cemented their nickname in Ranma's mind was their rowdiness; if something gave them the excuse to make noise then most of those girls would take it eagerly.

"Ranma-san!"

Ranma blinked and smiled as he saw a ghostly figure floating towards him and smiled before waving. "Morning Sayo-chan, here to watch the morning rush again?"

Sayo Aisaka nodded with a bright grin as she floated next to Ranma and adopted a sitting position as Ranma smiled again; the ghost girl was pretty much the only student from 2-A that didn't act completely off the walls and that had to be because she was dead. Well, there were others but it was a toss-up for them in Ranma's opinion.

A normal person would have likely been freaked out at the sight of the ghost girl, but Ranma did have plenty of experience when it came to spectral women, like Kogane back at Furinkan and the Scribble Panda's human form, so he didn't start screaming when he saw her while taking a walk at night. He had barely avoided laughing at her attempt to scare someone, but no screaming.

Still, the fact that Ranma could see her thanks to his senses and the fact that she was radiating Ki like a lighthouse smoothed over any hurt feelings considering the girl was not only lonely to the point of being literally starved for some kind of companionship, but incredibly depressed, Ranma swore that if Sayo knew the Shi Shi Hadoken, she could level half the school with the kind of power the depression from being invisible created.

And Ranma had always been a sucker for a sad girl so he befriended her.

Sayo cocked her head curiously as Ranma chuckled to himself. "Hm?" Ranma noticed and channeled some Ki into his hands to pat her head, eliciting a bright smile from the ghost.

"Just remembering how we met and how much of a help you've been, especially with the few times I've had to sub for Takamichi with the Madhouse."

Sayo blushed and glanced away. "It's nothing, really! You just looked so lost trying to get them under control." She turned another bright smile on the martial-artist turned teacher. "I'm glad to help you though!"

Ranma laughed again. "Yeah, you've been a great help, especially when it comes to my job." He chuckled at the memory of Sayo using her abilities as a ghost to create an obstacle course for one of his classes, throwing dodgeballs, lifting and dropping nets for the students to crawl under and even lifting up a few gym mats to create a wall that required team work to find a hole to jump through.

Who knew having a ghost as a friend would prove so...useful?

A glance at the distance allowed Ranma to spot the glint of an incoming train and Ranma got to his feet, Sayo following suit and smoothing out her skirt as the pig-tailed teacher stretched slightly.

"Well, time to get the show on the road." Reaching into another pocket, Ranma pulled out a stack of yellow penalty cards as the train came to a stop and tensed, ready to spring into action as Sayo drifted off towards class.

The bell rang, and a new day at Mahora Academy started as students rushed out of the train.

Little did Ranma know that the life he had so painstakingly untangled… was once again about to get much more complicated.


	5. Tide of Chaos

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** I'll admit that it's kind of iffy if this is actually a serial seed or a oneshot. But, seeing as how we do have very, very vague plans for a Chaos Ranma/40k cross at some point, a "brother" to Waaagh! Ranma!, I figured that this is as good a place as any for it.

Tide of Chaos 

_Death & Honor_  
It all seems like a dream; my life in Nerima, before the Dark Gods called me to be one of their Champions. I see it in my dreams, fleeing from the wrath of bad-tempered girls, trying to reason with jealous fools who proclaimed their willingness to kill me with practically every breath, and I burn with embarrassment that I could have ever been so naïve.

Here, where death stalks at my heels and cities have burned at my hands, I could not survive with such foolish sentimentality. There are times that I weaken, that I wonder whether I have strayed from my self… but I do not doubt. Always have I sought my own freedom, and here, in this dimension of tyranny and slavery, where untold legions bow in forced servitude to a corpse on a gilded throne, I am an agent of freedom and a herald of hope. I grow stronger as the Powers of Chaos smile on my mission, and I shall fight to break the shackles of the Imperium until my last breath.

I know that I may displease the Dark Gods, and they may transform me into something unspeakable. I have lived under such tenuous circumstances before, and I do not let it trouble me. What happens happens, and it is their right in exchange for the gifts they have given me.

I know that I may die in my mission, cut down by the hands of Imperial slaves, or rival Champions, or the Ancient Ones, or the mindless hunger of the Tyranids, or any of a legion of ways. I do not fear. I have learned to live, and if I must die, then I shall do so with a smile on my lips and blood on my hands.

I know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Should I please the Dark Gods enough, should I stand out in their eyes, then I shall be elevated to the rank of Daemon Prince. I shall be made immortal, a demi-godling of Chaos, and given not just power beyond mortal comprehension, but the chance to carry on my mission through the eons- and, perhaps, to see it succeed.

Death. Damnation. Daemonhood. There is no other path. No turning back.

Bring it on.

_XXX_

_Cold Logic_  
_[+Target Acquired…+]_

I don't know if that cold, crackling, inflectionless voice is mine, or my thoughts, or even something whispering in my head. But I can't bring myself to care. I never intended for this to happen, to turn my back on the Imperium of Man and give myself to the Great Enemy, but as the old adage goes, life is a bitch. I killed that murdering scum Commissar with my own hands, and from that moment I was truly damned. Had they caught me, I would have been shot, or sent to the Penal Legions. So I was forced to flee to the wilderness and live as a bandit. I was lucky that my lasgun was so durable… but was it good luck or ill that my path crossed with Ranma? I had intended to murder and rob him- I had no idea what I was up against. I was one of the best in my squad at rapid-fire procedure, yet I barely had the chance to pull off three shots before he was in my face and making me bargain for my life.

I chose to live, and serve him. And now I am doubly damned. The Dark Powers have touched my armor, causing the materials to grow and bloom. It has grown around me into a protective shell, in shape akin to power armor, yet unlike anything produced by the Imperium. As it changed, becoming tougher than Imperial Flak Armor should be, I began to lose my desire to shed it… and now, I cannot. I can feel it growing into me, worming its carbifibers into my flesh, anchoring itself to my bone. We are becoming one… and this does not bother me. Am I wrong? Is it I who am becoming part of the armor, and not the other way around? My gun has also changed- is it melding with us too? I don't know…

_[+Target Dispatched…+]_

Nor do I care.

_XXX_

_Twisted Lust_  
I hate pure-genes because they hate me. We twists didn't ask to be born different, to look as strange as we do. I didn't ask to have feet half-way between paws and claws, to have thick, shaggy fur on my back while my front is smooth, to have thick horns curving from the top of my head like some engraving of a daemon and a thin, rat-like tail with a poisoned sting at its tip. But that was how I was born, and the humans hated me for it. My family, we slaved and suffered because of how we looked. I learned to hate our "masters", who beat us bloody, starved us and forced us to sweat and toil our way to early graves, all the while preaching sanctimoniously that we "deserved" this fate and that the best thing would be to die while working, so that we might be granted purity in the afterlife.

Bastards.

I scavenged together the material to make weapons. Crude ones, but concealable, and better than nothing, should some depraved or bored overseer decide to sate his lust on me, or the opportunity came to make one pure-gene "disappear" or suffer an "accident". I met up with others like me, and they tutored me in the faith of the True Gods, who proclaimed us not as corrupted sinners and wastrels but as holy, blessed, and people worthy of respect. I became involved in the rebellion, and the day came when we rose up against our "masters".

I was there, in the fighting. We were losing at first, but then, things began to go our way. I didn't know until later that other worshippers of Chaos had come to our world, had made common cause with us. It was in battle I might him. At first, I thought he was one of my enemies, and I attacked him. He fended me off like I was a child, but didn't attack me- he slew any other human that approached us while I, lost in fury, did my best to kill him. I still don't know how he slipped away from me in the melee, but I didn't see him until after the fighting was over. Then, I found out that he was the leader of those who had caused our victory, and the leaders of the rebellion had promised to reward him for his aid.

My heart leapt into my throat when he casually pointed at me and named my joining his warband as his price.

Since then, I have fought beside him. It is… strange. He seems to not even notice my mutations, certainly not to care about them. He treats me the same as he treats the others; an equal, respectful, as friends even. I should hate him –he's a human, after all– but I don't. I just can't. And there's more… I catch myself staring at him, watching the way he moves, admiring the controlled strength and the inhuman grace with which he handles himself. I dream about him… about me… but I mustn't! I am a mutant, he is a human- it can't be! It must never be! I have to hate him!

It's wrong to think it could be otherwise…

_XXX_

_Cold Blood_  
Don't remember birth-place much. Dark. Dusty. Smelly. Metal, rust, goop, and walls all 'round. Never hear of "outside", never think could go "outside". Life simple, hard; hunt meat with brothers, sisters, ugly little smoothskin cousins. Fight smoothskins from Up. Gather scrap. One day, I get lost, get hurt. Hurt bad. I no can get back to camp; think I gonna die. Then Boss come. I think Boss gonna kill me- I "abhooman" after all. I wrong; Boss pick me up – little smoothskin, lift me like stomped rat! – carry me to his camp, all soft words, all gentle touch, all promise that I get better and keep living.

Boss keep word. I heal, get better. I swear Blood-Oath; Boss my Boss now, I follow Boss wherever Boss go. Boss bring me "outside". I frightened, at first. Outside strange, different… but I like Outside. Breeze, light, open space- yeah, I like Outside. I fight for Boss long time. But I start changing; get bigger, sprout tail, face start look different- longer, flatter. I get fangs, chest get hot- like lungs full of cinders. Hands swell, fingers grow longer, grow sharper- can rip through steel now. I get stronger, faster, can climb better, scales get tougher; little smoothskins no can hurt me now.

One day, stinking smoothskins get drop on Boss. I tied up, no can get over there, no can stop them. I angry, roar my hate- stinking smoothskins no kill my Boss! Lungs burn, throat burn, feel like guts gonna climb out my mouth. Fire come from my mouth, set smoothskins on fire, burn them to crisp! I spit smaller fire on ropes, burn them up, break loose and tear stinking smoothskins apart. I tell Boss I sorry, but Boss, he just laugh, call me "his dragon". I happy, but I make oath to self.

I now Boss's dragon. I burn all who try to hurt Boss.

_XXX_

_Destiny_  
I do not possess faith. This surprises many, who ask how I can devote myself to the Chaos Gods if I have no faith. Simpletons. The Chaos Gods **are**; there is no more point nor need to believe in them than there is to believe in the existence of space itself.

I have played the part of the seer, the oracle, the prophet, and I do take pride in my ability to do so, but I have no tolerance for such concepts as "fate" and "destiny". I know that the Burning Eye manipulates events for its own amusement, but that is not "fate". That is knowledge of probability, comprehension of possibility, and the insight to meddle and manipulate at just the right points to get the desired results. Oh, I have some "precog" powers, but that's merely a heightened mental awareness of probability. Mostly, Chaos has blessed me with greater wisdom and understanding than the sheep who make up the Imperium and its slaves.

And yet… I cannot help this strange sensation when I think about my "master", Ranma Saotome. I know in my head that it is the whims of Chaos that pull him hither and yon, that bless him with daemonic powers and curse him with mutations, and that even one as apparently favored as he might be reduced to a whimpering, writhing, knot of flesh and bone in an instant… yet, in my heart, I cannot shake this unspoken insistence that he **is** chosen somehow, that he **is** marked for the Dark Glory.

He has a chance, I suppose.

And is that not what it all boils down to? Chance?

_XXX_

_For the curious, the character in the first segment is Ranma (though I figure that's obvious). The other characters, in order, are a Traitor Guardsman, a Mutant Assassin, a Big Mutant based on a Chaos-Touched Scaly (an Abhuman strain native to at least the Hives of Necromunda) and a Chaos Psyker. Originally, I planned to include a segment called Red Hymns, about a Chaos Death Cultist, but I just couldn't think of anything to write for them. Maybe if I do a part two to this, showing off some other members of Ranma's warband…_


	6. A Storm of Chaos

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** just so there's no confusion, this oneshot does 'link back' to the setting of my "Another Rainy Day" serial, however, it isn't actually part of that series. This is just me playing around with the established backstory of that "setting".

A Storm of Chaos

Ranma sighed as he excused himself from downstairs and headed on up to the guest room he shared with his father. While he wasn't trying to pick fights with Akane or anything like that, things were... _tenser…_ now then they had been before that whole incident with the Reversal Jewel... that incident that had led him to Honest Abe's Wandering Shop. There were times it seemed that both he and Akane were practically bristling, like two wild animals meeting on the border of respective territories, and it really drained him nowadays. A whim drifted into his mind of doing some scrying, but he dismissed the idea; firstly, he didn't like the idea of somehow becoming an addict to it, and secondly, it was too dangerous to do so with everyone else in the house. Kami only knew what would happen if they found out about the Eye... well, to be honest, he wasn't really sure precisely **what** would happen himself, but he was positive that it would be a pain in the ass.

All of this was just passing lazily through his stream of consciousness when he pushed the door to the guestroom open... and found Happosai in it, sitting on the dresser and admiring the Eye of Zygyg. Ranma's jaw dropped for several stupid seconds before he finally managed to reboot his brain.

"What the hell are you doing!" He demanded.

Happosai glanced, "Didn't know you had something like this Ranma my boy, why don't you let your master see how much this little trinket is worth, I was going to sell that worthless Nanban Mirror anyway so this should sweeten any deal nicely."

Ranma's back bristled. "You give that here right now you evil little runt!" He snarled, diving at the old pervert, who nimbly hopped over him- but if he had been expecting Ranma to slam facefirst into the dresser and knock himself out cold, he hadn't given the heir to the Saotome school enough credit. Ranma caught himself on the dresser, used it as a platform to ricochet away and dive at Happosai with even greater speed. Hands lashed out in an Amaguriken volley to try and grab back what was rightfully his. "I said give it here!"

"Nothing doing boy! Now I know this thing has to be valuable if you want it back so bad!"

Ranma gave an inarticulate roar and chased after Happosai, who was currently leading him on a merry chase through the Tendo household... if one of the others came to investigate what this was all about, and managed to actually see what Happosai had stolen, there would be... _questions_. Questions that Ranma didn't particularly want to answer.

Happosai meanwhile, was inspecting the mirror for any imperfections and found the most glaring one, "Who would want a mirror with cloudy glass? I can't even see my face in it." In that moment, the mirror's face unclouded to show Happosai's face, which now had an expression of confused shock as he dodged another attempt to grab it.

"A magic mirror? Wait, there's only one way to test it. Show me a pretty woman, magic mirror!" The Eye made a noise that only Ranma could tell was one of annoyance before it obligingly showed Happosai a tropical island with a bevy of beach beauties, "Haha, now that's my kind of magic mirror! Okay mirror, take me to the pretty ladies!"

The mirror made a distinct beeping noise and did nothing, much to the dismay of the old lecher, "No! I want to feel pretty ladies, not stare at them! Bah, I guess I'll have to sell it after all." He stuffed the mirror next to the badly repaired Nanban Mirror and didn't notice the small ball of sparking energy form between the two until it reached critical mass.

**KRAKOOM** Happosai felt himself flying as several balls of light were spread across Nerima, hidden by the smoke of the Old Lecher's unexpected departure.

Ranma coughed loudly, clearing the last of the smoke from his lungs. Ignoring the somewhat panicked, somewhat outraged voices of Soun Tendo and his daughters (he thought Genma might have been yelling too, but was too distracted to confirm... or care), he desperately searched the hallway for a sign of either of the two magical mirrors. Finding nothing, he started to curse with an almost religious proficiency.

While Ranma was doing this, the balls of light that had originated from Happosai's unintentional magical cross-leak had drifted to various points across Nerima, settling into place like balls of foxfire... and then exploding harmless. Save for the fact that, in each ball's wake, it dropped a single teenaged figure onto the ground...

The air rushed out of Kin's lungs as she landed on her back on something that creaked in protest. Pushing herself upright, she found herself lying on a bed in a room that was at once strangely familiar and completely unknown to her. From the various trappings, here and there, it looked like a girl's room- and she didn't really know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Curious, she got up and went to the door, hoping to find a way out.

It took a few moments for Yuzu's head to stop spinning, and when she found herself sitting on a roof, she wondered if Jewel was playing some sort of prank on her. All right, it wasn't her fiancé's usual style to even play pranks, let alone like this, but it was a fairly reasonable assumption. Well, the ground was close enough for her to get down with one hop, so it wasn't as if it was some kind of inconvenience to be here...

"Brother, were we in Mr. Scaly Green's pond two minutes ago?" Hiromi asked.

"We were not, my sister. Nor do I know why our mother's dear pet is so lively today." Hisoka replied smoothly, dodging the alligator's clumsy charge as he did so. With a flick of his wrist, his whip lashed out and ever so gently caressed the overgrown lizard's back. At once a brilliant flash erupted as a fairly hefty amount of voltage coursed into the gator's body. Mr. Scaly Green promptly decided that he wasn't that hungry after all and collapsed, paralyzed by the electricity.

Meanwhile, at the Nekohanten, Mousse had immediately sprung to his beloved Shampoo's defense when two strange boys had materialized from the balls of energy. Unfortunately for him, the two had moved with singular purpose and taken him down with one shot before he could even take a single swing at him, much to the satisfaction of a certain lavender-haired Chinese Amazon.

At Ucchan's, meanwhile, the teenaged proprietress was rather baffled by two strangers suddenly falling out of her ceiling and onto her shop's floor. Particularly by the way the boy muttered something about "Amazon homebrew". Bafflement gave way to something a little harder to describe when the two gave her a quizzical scrutiny and proceeded to call her "mom".

As Ranma finished up his tirade of cussing, he looked up as two female voices spoke up "Mom?/Mommy?" and saw a girl dressed in casual clothes, boots and a set of reinforced gloves on her hands, handcuffs clinking as she landed from the roof while from the house, a girl in school clothes emerged.

Yuzu shifted her neck and body, loud cracks and pops sounding out as she stared in confusion at Kasumi, "You look...different Mom." Kasumi blinked as the girl looked around and then fixed her eyes on Ranma.

Yuzu for her part was confused as she studied the teenage boy in front of her, making him sweat nervously for reasons that were, at the moment, known only to himself, before they widened in realization, "Oh my god...Dad?"

That got the attention of the schoolgirl from studying Nabiki, and her eyes widened as well, "Daddy?"

Ranma started contemplating another round of cussing as everyone's eyes focused on him.

"What the hell is going on Saotome? Last I checked, I didn't have a daughter." The schoolgirl teared up at Nabiki's harsh tone while Kasumi looked confused as well.

"I have to agree with Nabiki, I don't remember having a daughter either Ranma"

Ranma sighed as Akane strode forward with a scowl on her face, "Ranma, I think you need to explain this."

Ranma grimaced, but his explanation was cut short when three voices called out to him, "Ranchan!/Airen!/Ranma-darling!" Turning in the direction of the shouts, Ranma's face fell as he recognized the owners of those voices, and the teens following them.

A few minutes later, everyone was gathered, somewhat awkwardly, in the living room, due to Ranma's insistence that he would not explain what was going on unless they let him set things up first. The fact that, when he had sat down, he had several bottles of sake, doubtlessly stolen from Happosai's room, did not make things any more comfortable.

"Alright, Ranma, spill it! What's going on here!" Ryoga snapped angrily. No one was quite sure where he had come from, and Akane was too distracted to notice P-chan was missing, but no one really cared.

Ranma simply held up a hand in a "wait a minute" gesture, opened a sake bottle, and began to drink. The crowd watched in no small surprise as Ranma gulped down mouthful after mouthful of alcohol without even stopping to breath. Finally, the last few drops of sake slipped down his throat, causing Ranma to gulp loudly for breath and cough several times before tossing the bottle aside and grabbing another one.

"Since when do you drink, boy?" Genma thundered.

"Since now. I'm hoping I'll pass out and when I wake up this will have all been a bad dream." Ranma said, already looking somewhat bleary-eyed.

"Are you going to tell us what the hell is going on here or not!" Soun thundered.

Apparently, that old bit about booze being liquid courage was true, in Ranma's case, as he didn't even flinch. The girl who had called Kasumi "mom" and who looked, in Akane's eyes, kind of like a punk, snorted in a rather brutish fashion. "Careful, grampa, or you're going to blow a blood vessel."

"Again." Said the other girl, the one who'd called Nabiki her mother.

"Don't call me grampa, young lady!" Soun proclaimed huffily.

"Are you complaining because she's not related, or because it's too casual?" The purple haired boy asked curiously.

Soun went to reply... then stopped, closed his mouth, and looked thoughtful, trailing into silence as he apparently tried to sort out just what he was feeling.

Ryoga couldn't hold his tongue as Ranma downed another bottle of Sake, "Dammit Ranma! What the hell is going on? Why do you have these people calling you their dad?"

"Yes Ranma, please explain how my darling Shampoo has your children!" Mousse flinched from the glare that was being sent to him from the teens sitting next to a glaring Shampoo.

"They're not really my children." Ranma said, somewhat slurred. "An' yet... they are. Were. Will be.... I hate time travel." He murmured, though not so softly that he couldn't be heard.

Nabiki blinked, "Time travel? What do you mean by that Saotome?"

"Y'all remember how these two dopes put me inna hospital after that whatsit with the Reversal Jewel?" Ranma asked, pointing somewhat clumsily at Ryoga and Mousse. "Well, when they lemme out, I kinda wandered inta this shop..."

"A shop? What sort of shop Ranma?" Kasumi was curious as the punkish girl sat down next to her.

"Magic shop. Moving shop. Lotsa weird stuff there. Guy who ran it gimme a magic mirror." Ranma said, eyeing a third bottle of sake and reaching out for it, then pausing and taking his hand away, apparently having enough functioning brain cells left to realize he was already acting kind of goofy. "Kind of like the Nanban Mirror." He said, and that got everyone's attention. Well, except the newcomers, who just looked more confused. "But not like it. Don't let you go through time, just see what can be could be was will be..." He shook his head, apparently a little more blitzed then he thought. "Them? I'm their daddy... all of them... but they're not part of my life as is." He indicated all of the newcomers.

Ryoga looked thoughtful, "That actually made some sort of weird sense. So which kids belong to who?" Everyone stared at him in confusion, "What? I'm just curious."

Ranma stared at Ryoga blankly, then closed his eyes. A faint swell of battle aura shimmered around him for a few seconds, and when he opened his eyes again, he looked more sober. "Well, as you've probably already figured out, Yuzu there is Kasumi's eldest. Kin is Nabiki's little girl. Yemon and Katsutoshi both call Shampoo their mom, and with Ukyo it's the same deal for Seichi and Hatsumi. The twins there -Hisoka's the boy, Hiromi's the girl- are Kodachi's."

"Wait a minute, if my kids are siblings and not half-siblings, then why didn't they recognize each other?" Ukyo asked, puzzled.

"They're not exactly your children..." Katsutoshi spoke up, looking a bit nervous. "Hatsumi is my half-sister; the two of us come from a timeline where... how do I say this politely? Father's marriage isn't exactly monogamous..."

There was a moment of puzzled silence as the group looked at Katsutoshi and Hatsumi, before Nabiki shook her head, "You married Shampoo **and** Ukyo? Damn, Saotome; that must have been one hell of a wedding night."

"WHAAAT!"

"Saotome you fiend, how dare you take advantage of Amazon laws!"

"Ranma you bastard, wasn't one girl enough for you!"

"Pervert!" A mallet came in to wallop Ranma, until a gloved hand grabbed the head and crushed it without even a hint of difficulty, stopping further accusations as the group turned to stare at Yuzu snarling at Akane, the youngest Tendo sister struggling in a vice-grip as a wave of arctic cold swept through the room.

"Don't. Touch. Him."

The twins seated near Kodachi nodded in agreement as the girl, Hiromi, flicked the grips of a pair of short swords into her hands as Hisoka shifted just enough to reveal his whip.

"Yuzu! Hisoka! Hiromi! That's enough! You all sit down and behave yourselves, right this instant!" Ranma thundered, a commanding tone in his voice that none of the people there had ever heard him use before.

"Hai Papa!" The twins shifted again to non-combat stance from their seated positions as Yuzu stared hard at Akane for a few more seconds with her almost demonic gaze and then dropped her erstwhile aunt to the ground, sitting next to Kasumi in silence as Akane coughed air back into her lungs.

"...Okay, what the hell brought that on?" Ryoga asked in disbelief.

"What brought what on?" Ranma asked calmly.

"Don't act dumb Ranma, the way you acted! You acted like you were their father!"

Yuzu, who was clearly the most aggressive the children so far, cracked her knuckles loudly with a viper-eyed glare, but relented after Kasumi placed a hand on one of her arms.

"Uh... news flash; I **am** their father. Did you really think I'd be as bad as my own old man was?" Ranma asked, clearly puzzled.

Ryoga paused for a moment and then nodded sheepishly, "In a word? Yes." He flinched as he heard the soft **click** of a blade coming part way out of its scabbard as Hiromi glared at him alongside Kodachi, sweating at the matching expressions. He dared a glance at that Yuzu girl to see that she had murder in her eyes and guessed that if it wasn't for Kasumi, she'd be trying to tear him to pieces.

Heck, even that Kin girl was glaring at him.

"Um... is your father here, by any chance? I've never actually met him." Yemon asked hesitantly.

Everyone turned to Genma, who blinked before shrugging, "I'm Genma Saotome." Yemon glanced at Ranma, who nodded in confirmation.

"So, you're the incompetent old fool who abandoned my father after dragging him across half of creation for his entire life, including throwing him into one of the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo, and who repeatedly shoved him into one harebrained scheme after another to ensure your own life of comfort on the sweat of your only son's brow?" Yemon mused thoughtfully. "I gotta say, you don't look like your reputation..."

"Huh, so this is my grand-dad. From the way Mom talks about you, I thought you'd be some kind of ranting, raving, rabid lunatic." Seichi shrugged, "I'm a little disappointed now."

"He always tried to get me to go with him on weird camping trips all the time." Nabiki rolled her eyes at Kin's comment, figured that Genma would try to pull of a training trip at some point.

"Mama never let him near us, and he stayed away after she hired those cyborg ninjas as retainers after Sasuke retired."

Hisoka nodded at his sister's words. "He never quite got over that Halloween where they dressed up as the aliens from that American movie 'Predator'."

Yuzu giggled. "Mom simply poisoned him; said that Dad training me was enough without having my grandfather dragging me to some godforsaken wasteland to learn a technique that I'd likely never use. Of course, she did let him take me to the movies after that, it was cosplay night after all."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow as Ranma barely managed to suppresse a blush, but Kin beat her to the punch, "Cosplay night? What's that?"

Yuzu shrugged, "Mom likes dressing up and getting Dad involved in weird roleplay like something out a weird manga, and so they send my little brothers and sisters with Jewel and myself chaperoning whenever its cosplay night so they can have the house to themselves."

Ranma coughed quietly as Kasumi suddenly got the meaning of Yuzu subtle emphasis on 'weird' to realize what 'cosplay night' was about and blushed a brilliant red at the thought. Yuzu however, didn't notice her parent's embarrassment and continued.

"At least the neighbors don't complain about it, not since the entire house and dojo had to be soundproofed when I was five."

"Okay, young lady, too much information!" Ranma snapped. "You don't go airing things like that in public!" It wasn't that he was embarrassed or anything; he was a teenaged boy who was surrounded by beautiful girls and with no available outlet for... uh... "stress relief". It was only natural he'd taken to... well, you could probably call it voyeurism, using the Eye of Zygyg to experience the sensations of making love without actually needed to perform the physical act. Of course, he was perfectly aware of what would happen when the stunned "adults" around him put two and two together and realized that he was, in a roundabout fashion, having sex. That it was some parallel version wouldn't matter- he just **knew** that they would flip out.

"...They soundproofed the house? And the dojo too? Why on Earth would they do something like that?" Nabiki asked in a rather stunned voice, apparently having realized just enough of the innuendo to be shocked, though whether the cause was that a girl, and one whose mother was Kasumi of all people, would be that forthright about such personal details, or the idea of her sister having sex -or even Ranma having sex- was anyone's guess.

Yuzu shrugged, "Mom said something about wanting to meet some kind of 'anniversary goal' and wanted every room of the house and the dojo soundproofed so the neighbors didn't get disturbed. I didn't get what she meant until Old Man Happosai showed me when I was fourteen." She blushed lightly, "Mom and Dad were...creative with the kitchen utensils that night."

"That's nothing." Yuzu glanced at Yemon as he smiled, "One time, Mother challenged Father to a test of stamina and endurance. The entire village took bets on which one would last longer. They went for five hours."

Katsutoshi smirked as Shampoo blushed, "Yeah, well both our mothers went with him for two hours, and it wasn't an hour with each either."

Nabiki glared at Kin and hissed in her ear, "Not a word young lady." Kin nodded rapidly at the icy tone in her mother's voice.

Hisoka snorted, "One whole day, and Shibari was involved."

Kodachi looked puzzled and perhaps even embarrassed at the mention of bondage (despite rumors amongst the populace of both St. Hebereke and Furinkan, she had never contemplated using her ribbon in any fashion outside of its combative and sport usages), while Ranma shuddered slightly; that had been a bit more of an interesting experience than he had bargained for.

Akane's eyes glazed over as she started muttering audibly, "Perverts...all of them...a family of perverts...and I'm related to them...I'm related to perverts...all of them...perverts..." The kids all blushed while giving half-hearted glares at their aunt while in the background, Ryoga finally boiled over.

The Lost Boy couldn't take it anymore, here was his mortal enemy once again shoving another symbol of how much better he was in Ryoga's face; Ryoga had no romantic life whatsoever, he couldn't even take the sight of a nudie magazine without overheating and passing out, and here was his rival showing that not only could he 'get some' but he could raise kids! And then they had to go and embarrass Akane in such a perverted manner, well he was having none of that, and besides, wouldn't this be a way to prove to Akane that he was better for her than Ranma?

With a roar of rage he dove at Ranma over the table, only for Ranma to roll with the dive and flip Ryoga over effortlessly. "Oh, come on, P-chan! You can't seriously blame me for this! Hell, what are you blaming me for this time, anyway?" The exasperated teen asked.

"I don't need to blame you for anything, you're a pervert and need punishment, that's all there is to it!" Ryoga proclaimed. As he surged forward, fist cocked and ready to punch, Yuzu suddenly darted in between the two and sent Ryoga staggering back a couple of steps with a solid punch to the jaw, to the surprise of everyone else. Ryoga shook his head, more startled then really hurt, then narrowed his eyes and looked menacing. "Get out of the way." He warned her. He couldn't really condone hitting a girl... well, unless it was actually Ranma... but then again, she was Ranma's daughter, so that would make it okay.

"Not a chance in hell, you old windbag. You want him, you gotta go through me first." Yuzu said calmly.

"Don't think I won't! I, I've got no problem with hitting girls!" Ryoga bluffed.

"That's good. I don't either." Yuzu said with a mocking grin, the spitting image of her father's. "So, what are you waiting for? Come on, porkchops."

"Don't call me that!" Ryoga howled, charging forward... only for the girl to nimbly sidestep him and grab him in a throw, hurling him out into the yard with such force that he bounced off the wall.

She promptly leapt after him. "Okay, sunshine, let's rumble!"

Kasumi watched as her sort-of daughter promptly took advantage of Ryoga's dazed state to nail him with left-right-left combo to the jaw, then a kick to the side, only to get sloppy and catch a punch to her own jaw when Ryoga snapped back to his senses and struck through a hole in her defenses. She turned to face Ranma. "Um, Ranma, shouldn't you do something? You are her father, after all."

"You're right." Ranma said pleasantly. "Kick his ass, bright eyes!" He called encouragingly.

"Will do, pop!" Yuzu called back, flashing him a thumb's up sign.

Ryoga was off-balance, but he wasn't overwhelmed. He had been somewhat worried at the start that Ranma's daughter would be some kind of super-martial artist, someone so powerful and skilled that his battle against her would be like Akane fighting Happosai. Instead, he guessed she was probably around Ranma's skill level... which wasn't entirely a good thing, seeing as how Ranma had always managed to eke out a victory against him in the past. Then again, the girl didn't quite seem to have Ranma's flamboyant edge for dancing around, so more of his blows were connecting then would against Ranma. Unfortunately, she seemed to have Ranma's knack for withstanding damage... and she hit a fair bit harder then her father did too.

"Ooh, right in the sternum and didn't even crumple." Seichi nodded as one of Yuzu's legs lashed up to a hard kick as Hisoka made a quizzical noise that his sister answered automatically.

"The boots are steel-toed, brother. Combined with that strength, that should hurt on some level."

Yemon nodded thoughtfully. "Strange... it almost looks like he's learned the Bakusai Tenketsu... but who'd teach a move like that to an outsider?"

"He does know it." Hatsumi brought up. "It's a long story, but nana Cologne taught him."

"...Nana Cologne?" Mousse asked in disbelief.

"Well, great-great-grandmother's a bit of a mouthful, don't you think?" Ranma teased the near-blind Amazon.

"That is something of a task to say. Hmm, your daughter seems to be holding her own quite well, wouldn't you say Kasumi-san?"

Kasumi winced as Yuzu rolled away from a kick to plant both her feet into Ryoga's sternum, "I guess so..."

"You don't sound very pleased about it." Kodachi commented mildly.

"I guess I'm just worried that Yuzu-chan will get hurt, that's all."

"Don't worry, she can handle herself... ouch, I bet Ryoga felt that one." Ranma commented as Yuzu, having fallen into one of Ryoga's bear hugs, promptly drove a knee into his crotch, forcing him to drop her and giving her the opportunity to kick him in the chin with enough force to knock him off his feet.

"Wish he would hurry up and drop already, I want to see how she matches up against a weapon user." Hisoka stroked the butt of his whip contemplatively as Hiromi shrugged, revealing the tips of her Kodachi grips.

"Quite, though I have dibs on Yemon dear brother."

"Are you sure you can handle me?" The purple-haired half-Chinese boy teased.

A thump got their attention and the kids noticed that Yuzu was sitting on a knocked out Ryoga looking quite pleased with herself as Hiromi simply replied, "We're about to find out." In a flash her blades were out as Hisoka calmly approached Yuzu, who looked up and smiled at the new challenger.

Yemon simply cocked his head to the side and beamed happily at Hiromi... then exploded into a burst of motion that caught everyone off-guard, Kodachi's daughter barely managing to cross her swords over her head to block a bladed elbow strike, Yemon then flipping over her and out into the garden to have more room to maneuver in.

"You're fast." Hiromi said.

"I know. It's something of my specialty." Yemon replied... then jinked to the side as a stone on the end of a chain came whistling through the air where his head had been. "So you want in, too?" He asked, sounding happy about the idea.

"Just let me at you; I haven't mastered Joketsuzoku Wu Shu for nothing!" Hatsumi boasted. That turned out to be a bit of a bad idea as Hiromi suddenly lashed at her with swordblades. "What's your problem, rich girl?"

"I challenged him first- it's very rude to butt in on someone else's fight."

"So? You snooze, you lose, princess!"

"I'm gonna go grab another bottle or six..." Ranma grumbled.

"Oh no you don't Saotome, someone has to make sure these kids don't hurt themselves." Nabiki winced at seeing a flash of electricity as Hisoka's whip struck the ground.

"You know, Saotome old friend, this might be a way to ensure that your son finally gets married. Why not have the children fight, and the winner of the entire group decides which girl Ranma should marry." Soun suggested.

Ranma promptly smashed a sake bottle over Soun's head. "Oh no you bloody well don't! I'll let them have you for a practice dummy first!"

None of the girls present, save Akane, who was apparently still locked in her nightmare about perverts, looked very impressed with either Soun or Genma at that moment.

"Anyway, now that's all cleared up, can I go now? Happosai's still got those damn mirrors, and who knows what else might end up tumbling through rips in the fabric of time if I don't get them back?" Ranma said, distracting everyone.

"What, you mean, like parallel versions of you? A Pirate Ranma, a Ninja Ranma, a Samurai Ranma, a Wizard Ranma, Mecha Pilot Ranma, that sort of thing?" Mousse asked, growing pale.

"…Well, I never thought of that, but yeah, I guess that's possible…" Ranma conceded, wondering what had brought that on.

"We're all gonna die! Run for the hills!" Mousse screamed in panic, grabbing Shampoo and fleeing over the wall as fast as he could… much to the puzzlement of everyone else. About three minutes later, Shampoo came back, disheveled, annoyed, and alone.

"Stupid Mousse." She spat. "But he have some sense; we need get mirrors back from Happosai- magic like that not something to mess around with."

"I figured you'd understand- you've got experience with magic." Ranma hastened to explain, even though Akane was still looking somewhat lost in her own world, having only just been startled out of her madness mantra by Mousse's outburst. "But how do we take it back from the old fart?"

"I see one, two… nine martial artists here, all of which should be roughly the same skill level. Or are you saying you don't think your kids are able to match you as you are now?" Kin asked, her tone at once sweet and mocking in a fashion that made Nabiki's own eyes widen; was that what she sounded like?

Ranma smacked his palm with his fist. "Of course! Between all of us, Happosai won't stand a chance! Katsutoshi, think you can figure out where he is?"

"If he's anything like the stories you told us, then certainly." The other half-Chinese boy said calmly. He pulled out a tangle of string and other random bits, arranging them into something that looked vaguely like a cross between a drunkard's attempt at cat's cradle and a dream catcher made by a hurricane.

"Don't worry, if anything, we probably understated things." Ranma replied. Ignoring the confused expressions of most of the others, Ranma turned to Hisoka. "You know how you found that way to bypass the safety measures in that whip of yours, the trick you never told your parents or your sister about?" Ranma asked, ignoring the startled look on both Kodachi and Hisoka's faces as well as Hiromi's dirty look. "It's time to pull it out- crank the whip up to maximum voltage."

Kodachi's son nodded and began to do as he had been told. Katsutoshi suddenly jerked violently, the array of junk in his fingers falling apart. "I've found him. I can get us all too him, if you're ready."

A chorus of positive replies was his response, and Shampoo's son smiled. "Then gather around me, and let's go teach the old pervert some manners." He raised his arms dramatically as his kinsfolk obeyed him. "Sheathe these feet in the driving gale, make swift these legs, o'er land we sail!"

Violent winds suddenly exploded in the Tendo yard, forcing the others to cover their faces for protection as the winds swirled and twisted into a fevered vortex around the group of teenaged Saotomes. Then, the winds died down as suddenly as they had appeared, and with their departure, the Saotomes were gone.

"Something tells me that the old pervert is in for one hell of a beatdown." Ukyo declared proudly.

"My, don't we sound proud of ourselves." Nabiki mocked.

"And the idea of that old letch finally getting what he deserves, at the hands of your own flesh and blood no less, doesn't warm the cockles of your heart?" Ukyo reiterated.

"…Well, maybe." Kasumi said, flushing with embarrassment as the other girls stared at her.

"How about we throw down a couple of drinks, Tendo?" Genma asked hopefully.

"I think your son drank all the sake in the house, Saotome."

"Nevermind, we'll go to the store and buy some more! This calls for a celebration! How often does the master get totally thrashed by our students?"

"Well said, Saotome; well said!"

"What do you mean, _your_ students?" The girls chorused.

_Okay, and that's another wrench out of the gears. Hope the ending wasn't too bad; I was partially unsure just how to end it, partially of the opinion that there might be potential for a second oneshot here. Ah well, this was just a pointless bit of whimsy anyway, so like it or hate it at your leisure._


	7. Ride To The Storm

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** Consider this to stem from roughly the same 'timeline' as Tides of Chaos.

Ride To The Storm

"So, this is new." Ranma noted dispassionately. He was convinced to the very marrow of his bones that this was a dream, as he clearly recalled going to bed what felt like a few hours ago (particularly as he'd had to do so hungry, Akane having taken over the cooking that night). But it wasn't as if this was unpleasant- Ranma had suffered more than a few nightmares since coming to Nerima, and this wouldn't be so bad even if he wasn't aware this was a dream.

He was basically standing amidst the gnarled, spreading, tangled roots of a giant tree perched on a large, otherwise barren and rocky island. Said island seemed to be drifting through a kind of sea of colors, swirling in all directions so that Ranma could have been "underwater" as far as he knew. After growing tired of the view, Ranma turned 'inland' and headed towards the tree, wondering why his subconscious had cooked up this particular vista. As he walked over to the surface of the huge tree, he noted that there were things tangled amidst the roots- and had he looked upwards, he would have seen the branches were the same, as if mirroring what lay below them. Bones, fragments of armor (some of it quite futuristic looking), swords, axes, guns of shapes Ranma couldn't begin to describe, coins, gemstones, statuettes- it looked as if someone had heaped both the detritus of some fierce battle and sacred offerings alike at the floor of the tree with equal abandon.

"Greetings, mortal." Came a voice- strangely familiar, but Ranma couldn't quite place it. Looking at the trunk, at roughly the same level as his face, revealed something like a half-formed laughing noh mask growing from the wood. Half-formed in that it was humanoid, but had no features save a clearly designated laughing mouth. A mouth that promptly flexed as the voice spoke again. "It has been long since one of the Materium has stood before me."

"Great. A talking tree. Why can't I ever have normal dreams?" Ranma complained.

"Dream? Yes, this is a dream… and no, it is not. You stand within the Realm of Chaos, Ranma Saotome. And I am one of its children; I am Zuvassin. And I am not a tree- I have been bound within this cursed place by jealous rivals of mine, children of the Dark Brothers Four. The tree is merely a manifestation of the seal that imprisons me."

"Uh huh… I'm gonna look for the way out now." Ranma said, and began to turn to leave.

"**Stay!"** Thundered Zuvassin, the very earth underfoot shaking with the force of his proclamation, strongly enough to knock Ranma to the ground.

The human pushed himself upright and made a show of brushing himself off. "Look pal, I feel for ya, really, but what business is it of mine?"

"Know that I am Zuvassin, the Undoer. I am the Tangler of Destiny's Skein, the Unweaver of Fate, the Breaker of Plans, the Sundering of Schemes. Where I go, all falls into dissolution and anarchy. I am a Son of Chaos, and I need your aid."" The mask stated. "Bound here like this, I cannot reach the children of my will; my cult fails in the Materium, and with it my power begins to wane. It may take eons, but I will wither and fade to nothing if I am not released. I beseech you, mortal, free me!"

"Even if I could, why would I want to?" Ranma asked. Ah, but it was so therapeutic to be able to tell someone to go take a flying leap at the moon- in the real world, he was always forced to help, no matter what his opinions on the matter were.

"I am the Great Spoiler, He Who Unmakes. I can undo anything… and that includes the curse set upon you by Jusenkyo." The mark replied.

"I'll do it." Ranma replied instantly. Hell, it wasn't as if this was anything more than something cooked up in a starved mind, right? …Right?

Ignoring Ranma's sudden mental query, the mask smiled wider. "I knew you would. Though I can bestow little of my actual power to the cause, I do have some things to offer you to your quest." The tree began to shake and shudder, the branches rustling fiercely before two things fell to the ground before Ranma, who stooped to retrieve them. "That scroll lists the things I need you to retrieve to perform the ritual that will free me. The sack will allow you to transport them without… complications. But there are more practical gifts I have for you…"

The sound of thunder cracked and rolled repeatedly, confusing Ranma at first- until he realized that was not thunder, but the pounding of hooves. From out of the sea of every color and none came a creature that he at first mistook for a horse, but which he promptly realized was as much kin to that earthly steed as a dragon was kin to a gecko. The earth split and flames spat where its claw/hooves touched it, the creature's many eyes glowing like embers like hell itself, rolling wildly in its deformed skull. It voiced a cry, half scream, half roar, loud enough to make Ranma feel like his kidneys were rattling around inside his belly, as it screeched to a halt just in front of him, pawing restlessly at the bare stone.

"What is that?" Ranma demanded.

"Its name is Lucifuge. Before my ascension, I rode this daemonic steed to battle- now; it shall bear you wherever you must go to claim the items I require of you. Across the Sea of Stars, through the infinite worlds, under the infinite heavens, there is no destination beyond your reach whilst you straddle its back." Zuvassin commented placidly.

"And I'm supposed to keep it from eating me, **how**, exactly?" Ranma snarked.

"Lucifuge obeys my will. Show it no weakness, and it will be your loyal steed. Now, there is one more gift I shall bestow upon you. Strong you are, but greater strength still may be required, and thus…" A low, ominous, pained groaning filled the air, and Ranma watched, not really that surprised, as the tree forced itself upwards, roots tearing from the stone and rearranging themselves to reveal a small ditch, in which a rather demonic-looking sword lay. "At the height of my power, I removed a sliver of my essence and crafted it into this Daemon Blade. Take it up, Ranma Saotome, and go forth. Our freedom awaits… if you have the courage to seize it. Speak now its True Name, and go!"

Ranma was about to protest that he had no idea what its True Name was, nor what a True Name in general was, and how exactly was he supposed to know either fact, when he stopped. From somewhere deep inside of him, strange words flowed up and out of his chest, words that he had never spoken before and which yet seemed as familiar as his own name. The blade seemed to pulsate, to shiver, and then, almost without his conscious thought, his hand reached down and picked it up. He brandished it in a few experimental strokes, then mounted Lucifuge as though he had been riding him for years.

"No tricks!" He warned the mask in the tree, and then spurred the daemon-steed on into the void.

"No tricks." Zuvassin stated simply. "For to betray you…" The mask began to shift and blur, features altering, becoming more distinct, until it was an older, crueler, mirror image of Ranma's own face that protruded from the trunk. "…Would be to betray myself." Finished Zuvassin, formerly Ranma Saotome, Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided.

Ranma suddenly shot up in his futon. "Man, that was a weird dream." He spoke aloud, uncaring that nobody was listening and, if they were, wouldn't care. Still, at least it hadn't been yet another damn nightmare- after that week suffering from Harumaki, well… Ranma's train of thought was disrupted when he became aware of something cold and hard under his sheets. Groping under the covers, his eyes widened as he pulled it out into the light. "…No way. That can't have been real!"

A masculine scream came from the garden. "Ranma! There's a monster in the garden!"

Ranma's face went through several conflicting expressions, before finally settling into something between curiosity and resignation. "Well…" He began. "If that was real, then I guess I may as well chase these things up…" Some more exploration unearthed the scroll, which he unfurled and began to read.

_…Yeah, this is a frickin' weird idea. Still, if folks want us to develop this into a fully fledged story covering Ranma's attempts to release Zuvassin, then feel free to suggest items for Ranma's list, be it unique (the member of a seven-balled dragon, the crown of a conqueror queen, the panties of an alien princess, etc) or the key to a crossover (the crown of Sailor Moon, the glasses of Gendo Ikari, the sword of Rurouni Kenshin, etc). I'll admit that I kind of prefer unique item suggestions: I've got a decent-sized anime collection, but I'm not so certain that the series all work for this idea._


	8. Dungeon Delvers

**The Unwritten Tales**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or any related characters in any way, shape or form._

**Author's Notes:** I consider this seed a marvel of reverse engineering. When it first came to me, it was in the form of Ranma and his new adventuring company appearing in the Tendos backyard after a semi-failed attempt to escape from one very pissed off dragon. Instead of writing that, I went right back to the beginning and, well, this is the result. This bears no relation to the Legends of Aeron serial, beyond the fact that both it and this are Ranma/D&D 4e crosses.

Dungeon Delvers – First Meeting

Wella Spellsmith groaned at the throbbing behind her temples as she finally roused herself; she hated hangovers. Wait a minute… she knew she hated hangovers, so she tried to avoid drinking more then she could handle – and she could definitely handle one lousy cup of mead, even if it had been served in a cup designed for tallfolk. Drinking that, and wondering at a peculiar aftertaste, was the last thing she clearly remembered.

"Ah, crap." She stated as the implication sunk in.

"Does your mother know you use language like that, little girl?" Asked a stranger's voice.

"Who are you calling a little girl? I'm a twenty year old halfling woman." She reacted immediately – no, not because she was bothered by cracks about her height (they were a fact of life if you went amongst tallfolk), but to cover the fact that she had been unaware that she wasn't alone. She looked around in the dark, cursing her lack of night vision, until finally her eyes adjusted enough that she could see that, yes, she was chained up like she thought (though, honestly, she should have been able to feel and hear them), and there was one other person; a teenaged human boy, who looked to be chained to the opposite wall.

"Halfling?" The stranger asked, Wella's eyes now adjusted to the gloom sufficiently that she could read his body language and see that he seemed genuinely curious.

"Yeah, you know, the Little People, the River Walkers, the Eternal Children, the Lucky Ones? What rock have you been living under?" She asked, then sighed; it didn't really matter. "I don't suppose you know who brought us here?" She mentioned idly.

"Bunch of weirdoes in cloaks. They all had this symbol on 'em, though." He mentioned.

"What kind of symbol?" Wella asked; this was information she couldn't pass by.

"Sort of a T growing out of an O, if you know what I mean." The stranger told her.

Wella paled. "Shit. Shit! Torog cultists! Of all the rotten luck!"

"Torog is…?" The human asked.

Wella stared at him incredulously. "What were you doing when the preachers were making their circuit? How could you **not** know who Torog is?"

"I'm from out of town." The human shrugged.

"Torog, the King That Crawls, the Whisperer in the Dark, the Clutching Shadow, the Crippled Gaoler! Surely you've heard of him!" She demanded.

A blur of shadowy motion that she assumed to be him shaking his head was her answer.

"Terrific. I get stuck in a cell with an absolute moron. Torog is the Lord of the Underdark, God of Imprisonment and Torture. Cultists of Torog abduct people so that they can sacrifice him to their foul god by torturing them to death, as slowly and as painfully as possible!" She spat, finding a flicker of petty relief in the way her cellmate acted upset by her revelation.

"We gotta get outta here!" He insisted.

"I agree, but we ain't going nowhere. The two of us are both chained up nice and tight, it's something these freaks are good at, so unless you can break all that metal…" She said, and then stopped as a very distinctive sound came to her sensitive ears. The sound of metal being stressed and twisted until it broke apart, a sound that was ultimately why she had been thrown out of the clan-fleet, followed by the faint tinkling of metal falling onto stone. Her cellmate stood up and then advanced on her through the gloom, squatting down beside her and reaching out to grasp the chains binding her arms to the floor.

"I can't do anything about the shackles, but I can deal with the chains." He told her.

"That's all I care about; fashion sense don't mean a thing to me if I can at least get out of here." She insisted. A part of her still couldn't believe what was just happening, but as her newfound ally promptly tore the chains binding her apart and helped her to her feet, she found sheer relief at the glimmer of hope overwhelming that. "Thank you! Thank you! Do you think you can do that to the door?"

The human looked at said piece of furniture; what light there was in the chamber consisted of torchlight coming through the small, barred window, but it was enough to outline sturdy wood, strong iron, and the general good craftsmanship that marked a Torog-consecrated jail cell. Then he looked back at her. "I can break through it. Might take more then one hit, though."

Wella pursed her lips in thought. "If we're going to break out, we should probably do it as quickly as possible… bastards took my pouch-belts, but I've still a few tricks up my sleeves. Stand still." She told her ally the last two words directly, having been muttering the previous vocalized thoughts to herself.

"What for?" He asked, an undeniable trace of suspicion in his tone… which was technically a good thing; showed he wasn't overly naïve.

"Without my components, I can't whip together any of my bigger spells, but you can never be stripped of the basics." She reassured him. She held up her right hand, curling all of her fingers except the first into a fist, and channeling her magical energy into it with a whispered formula, causing it to light up with a soft, gentle, rainbow-colored energy. "I can give you a kind of boost, a surge of power – it'll only be enough for one attack, but you're only hitting a door…"

He looked at her with an unreadable expression (though that was partially because she still couldn't see his face in this gloom), and then nodded slowly. "Alright, charge me up." He told her.

Wella nodded, and then reached as far up his chest as she could and traced an arcane sigil on his chest, the rainbow radiance flowing from her hand and into her cellmate. "Alright, let's go!" She told him. At once he whirled and lunged at the door - to her shock (she had expected, at most, that the lock would be torn off), the door practically exploded, a great shower of woodchips and mangled metal filling the air and clattering to the floor. She blinked in shock, stupefied by this display. "Melora's blisters..." She murmured, so dumbfounded she failed to notice that her cellmate had continued through the disintegrating door and out into the corridor beyond, right into the path of several Torog cultists. It was their shouts of surprise that snapped her back to reality and brought her running to help.

When she came onto the scene, however, she wondered if she was really needed; with a speed she had never seen anybody move with, except maybe that cocky elf who'd gone and stirred up a wild bee's nest in an attempt to get some honey for a girl he wanted to impress and promptly found himself being chased by hundreds of angry bees, her cellmate lunged at the Torog cultists with his bare hands.

One punch audibly broke the first cultist's nose, sending them tumbling across the floor, blood spurting from his crushed nostrils, and when a second cultist dove at him with a knife, without even looking the strange human reached back, grabbed the blade-wielding arm, and pulled the cultist over his shoulder and hurled her at the wall hard enough that she literally bounced off, ribs doubtlessly fractured from the impact.

Wella blinked in shock, and then realized a third cultist was fumbling desperately with a crossbow. "Oh, no you don't!" She snapped, thrusting her left hand at the Torog worshipper, index and pinky finger jutting straight, thumb, ring and middle fingers curled into her palm. Sparks flew between her fingers, the resultant tongue of crackling energy lashing out and burning her target with its power, dropping them with a crackling scream. With a smirk, she lifted her hand and blew away the traces of smoke trickling from her fingertips, then realized her former cellmate was staring at her.

"Nice trick." He told her, sincerely and with evident admiration.

"Eh." Wella replied, waving it off; it was just one of her most basic spells, after all. "You've got some pretty flashy moves yourself. Uh, I never did catch your name." She realized.

"My name's Ranma, Ranma Saotome." The human told her. "So, where do we go now? What's our next move?"

"How about getting me out of here for starters?" The pair flinched at the voice coming from one of the other cells, "Well? You aren't going to leave a person in this place are you?"

"Of course not." Said Ranma, before Wella could manage to say anything, walking over to the door from which the voice had come. "Woah, what's your deal?" He asked, which made Wella's curiosity and her warning senses start warring over which got to take credit for her subsequent actions.

"What deal? Come on, tallfolk, I can't see, what's back there?" She insisted, until Ranma offhandedly, and in a rather humiliating fashion, picked her up by the scruff of the neck and raised her aloft so that she could see into the cell. "Oh. A drow." She said, somehow infusing "drow" with the same disgusted resignation that a high society madam could use for the word "cockroach". Or "peasant".

"You aren't exactly a sight for sore eyes either, shortstuff, but beggars can't be choosers." The imprisoned figure replied. He was tall and lean, with narrow features twisted into a seemingly permanent expression of bitterness and suspicion. White hair hung loose and lanky, but his features seemed much younger then his hair color might have suggested, though it was hard to tell; his skin seemed to be a deep bluish-black color that blended into the darkness. Eyes the sullen red of hot coals glittered, ornate tattoos of scorpions stretching across either side of his face, from his eyes to his pointy ears. "I know what you're thinking, but I'm not one of **them**" He spat. "I'm a prisoner here just like you, so let me out already." He scowled.

"Ranma, don't open that door." Wella insisted, her tone remarkably commanding for a girl who was lucky to hit four feet square if she was measured to an inch.

The human blinked at her. "What's the problem?" He asked, making her wonder again, and this time in rather plain language, which turnip cart he had just fallen off of on his way out of whatever backwater he had come from.

"Look hayseed, here's the abridged version, I am a type of elf. There are many types of elves, but the one I am specifically are known as Drow, feared and rightly so for being slavers, torturers, murderers, you name it we've done it with a smile all while existing in a state of eternal paranoia and backstabbing each other. We're innately magical, we can see in the dark, and generally make the few seconds of your remaining life very, very miserable before we sacrifice you to our unholy spider goddess."

He shrugged at Ranma's expression, "Doesn't give you a good reason to trust me does it? Well that's the other drow, I on the other hand am a member of a group of individuals, not just other drow but humans, dwarves and even a few halflings and more, who are opposed to the various dark gods worshipped in the Underdark, Torog being one of them. I am not going to kill you, nor am I going to stab you in the back, I am here to shut this place down and if I'm going to do that, I'll need help just as much as you do. Hells, I won't even insult you for obviously coming from a isolated backwater so ignorant of the rest of the realm that you believe yourselves to be the center of the universe."

Ranma looked at the drow with an icy expression, then turned to Wella. "Is he telling us the truth?" He asked her.

"It's pretty much true, what he said." She admitted. "I've heard of a group of rogue drow that actively fights against Lolth and her kindred faiths, and supposedly they wear scorpion tattoos like this fellow, but it's only a rumor, as far as I know." She shrugged in emphasis that she was also unsure of what to do here. "Still... maybe he can help us. At least let us know what sort of threat we're up against...?" She began, her tone suggestive and her last words clearly addressed to the drow.

The subject of her not-so-veiled hints shrugged, "Sure, why not? First off, there were two others in this place. I managed to see one of them, some high and mighty dragonborn, getting dragged out for sacrifice. She was kicking up a real stink, had to use at least ten men and cursed chains to hold her still. Still didn't stop her tongue; full of typical holy folk arrogance and dragonborn drivel, as usual. At least… she did until one of them made a crack about her being a prime sacrifice to the King That Crawls; then she started shrieking death threats and curses until she was out of earshot. Frankly I was glad for it, these ears of mine are sensitive."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, "Cell next to mine had someone else inside it, but when a cultist came in to drag him off for sacrifice, he came out saying that the bastard had offed himself. Shame really, he was a good conversationalist."

"So that's, what, about 12 cultists, and presumably a high priest or priestess of some sort?" Wella asked. "Of course, we've handled three of them already, so that means a few less... but, still... you gotta point. We're gonna need some help for this."

"So glad you actually agree with me, did those words taste as foul as you thought they would? And I believe we are up against a High Priestess, and her pet mercenary."

At that, Wella sighed in defeat. "Alright Ranma, rip the door open."

"Why don't I just use the key?" He suggested, holding up the item in question, having taken it from one of the bodies of the defeated cultists that he'd searched once opening the cell door had been momentarily vetoed.

Wella's face took on an embarrassed flush as she admitted that, yes, that would indeed work. Once the drow was free, he introduced himself as "Malaggar" and disdainfully took a short sword from one of the cultists - which he promptly used to slit the throats of the two cultists that Ranma had downed, as the human had evidently only knocked them unconscious. Ranma exploded.

"What the hell did you do that for!"

The drow looked at the human askance. "What, you want these idiots coming after us and putting a knife in our back? Or outflanking us and warning their sick friends? These assholes were going to peel off our skins and drown us in vinegar - and they still will if we let them live. We've got no reason at all to spare them."

"Ya could have tied them up! Hell, why not lock 'em in the cells? That's what they're here for!"

"And risk them getting out? They're Torog servants - some of the more blessed of that cult have the ability to make bindings of any sort fail. Even if we stripped them naked, they could have been able to just tell the cells to let them out and they'd have been free. Not to mention that we need all the advantage that stealth and speed can give us - we can't afford to let them live."

Ranma clearly searched his mind for something, anything that would make a good argument, before he snarled, more to himself than to the others, "Fine, but I don't have to like it."

"Like it or lump it, if it keeps you alive, what does it matter? Like me using this shabby little thing." The drow grumbled, staring balefully at the rusted, grease and soot-smeared shortsword he was now holding. Its blade promptly lit up in eerie green flames, which then vanished. "It'll do, until I find where they took my sword."

"We're wasting time here. Lets find the store room, I'd bet a dragon's tooth that'll be where they have our gear." The Drow nodded as Ranma spared another momentary glare before nodding as well, the trio quickly moving down the corridors. After few minutes, stealth was abandoned as every hallway and room was deserted, everything from washing to foodstuffs was left alone, though some had obviously thought to take some cooking off the fires when they found the kitchen.

"Geez, do they really have to drop everything just to see one person get killed?"

Wella nodded at Ranma's question. "It is a cult Ranma, one of the nastier ones at that." She shot a glare at the chuckle from Malaggar. "With exceptions." She glanced a corner and then suddenly jerked back, the others stopping in their tracks immediately.

"Two guards, in front of that door. Looks important." Ranma glanced around the corner over Wella's head and nodded as she continued, "We're going to need a distraction."

The pigtailed teen looked around, and then spotted a pot nearby. With only a brief second to work out the trajectory, Ranma hefted the pot and sent it flying down another corridor, the sound of shattering clay grabbing the guards' attention and sending them running to investigate, the trio pressing themselves against the wall as they passed before dashing into the room, the halfling and drow sighing in relief at finding that they were in the store room. While Ranma stood guard behind the closed door, the two demihumans quickly found and retrieved what they were after. Wella took a set of belts, bandoleers and pouches with a relieved sigh. Malaggar, on the other hand, retrieve a rather nasty-looking sword, which he attached to his waist, and something very large wrapped in cloth.

After briefly checking to make sure everything was in place in her pouch-belts, the halfling nodded, "Right, lets get out of here."

Ranma nodded, and opened the door… just in time to run into one of the returning guards, the teenaged human scrabbling back and to his feet as the other guard scrambled to her feet and tried to yank a sword from her belt.

Ranma was expecting that, with the guards distracted, he and his impromptu allies could rush them and take them by surprise. What he was not expecting was for one guard to promptly grab the distracted counterpart by the mouth and ram his dagger into her back. The end result was Ranma's voice failing him as he watched the stabbed woman's eyes bulge out, blood and a faint dying cry spurting between her murderer's fingers, before he yanked the blade back out of her chest and dropped her to the ground like a piece of rubbish.

"Thank you for that timely distraction; I was worried I might have to let these worms live and settle for merely escaping with my life. Which would not have been to my liking, I assure you; I hate the idea of idea of running away with my tail between my legs." The murderous guard told Ranma, lightly and sincerely as though they were best of friends and he hadn't just seen him kill a partner of his own.

"What in the Nine Hells is going on, here?" Malaggar snapped, protectively placing the cloth-wrapped bundle between himself and the apparently mad guard.

The guard, meanwhile, merely shook his head softly and clicked his tongue in mock-disappointment. "And I thought you, particularly, would figure it out."

"You talk as if I know you." The drow answered testily.

"You do... as much as anyone can be said to know me." The guard said, grinning widely, shaking off his hood to reveal a blunt, battered-looking face with a shapeless, oft-broken nose, prominent scarring on one cheek, and gaps in his teeth. "Of course, when we last spoke... I talked like this." He said these last few words in a completely different voice; old and cracked and dusty, with an entirely different sort of accent, the sound clearly startling the drow.

"That voice... you're a changeling!" He declared, looking startled.

The guard said nothing. Instead he... _rippled_... form shimmering and twisting in a manner that brought to mind the way water in a clear pond shifted in response to dropping in a pebble. He lost several inches of height, skin turning a startling, almost artificially pale color, a porcelain white with touches of light gray in some areas, short-cropped black hair growing into a wild mane of eerie, pale green locks, features dissolving and flowing into something practically vestigial - a small, practically lipless mouth beneath an almost non-existent nose, two oversized eyes of pure dark gray, save for a white dot of a pupil, staring with a surprisingly warm light from within deep eye sockets. "That I am." He said, his voice different yet again, light, airy and soft. His robes swallowed him, having lost maybe two thirds of his former bulk, but he seemed unbothered by that.

Wella shook her head, before blinking at something and turned to Ranma, "Well?"

Ranma blinked and glanced down at her. "Well what?"

Wella made an exasperated noise. "How come you aren't asking what a Changeling is?"

Ranma blinked, and then shrugged. "Seemed pretty obvious to me. I mean, anyone who needs to ask what this guy is after seeing it in action has to be pretty stupid."

Wella flushed slightly while Malaggar and the Changeling nodded, before rounding on the newcomer. "So who are you anyway? How did you get here if you aren't one of the cult?"

The Changeling shrugged. "My name's Sim, and as for how I got in here, it was the same way I escaped. I was in here to just grab some of that loot back there." He pointed back into the storeroom and to the various sacks of gold in the back. "Well, you can see how well that turned out."

"Yeah, we can see that. Listen, this guy..." Ranma jerked a thumb to Malaggar, "said that these creeps dragged out some girl, a dragonborn or something, to be sacrificed. You know the way?"

Sim nodded and grabbed the dead guard's sword. "I'll do better than that, I'll help you out. Bastards took my gold when they grabbed me, and beat me up for the hell of it. Time to return the favor." The smile on his face was feral, indicated that he was going to do nasty things to the cultists, and Ranma suppressed a shudder as Sim started leading the way.

After a few moments chanting, the quartet heard the sounds of multiple voices chanting in unison. "What is that?" Wella asked. "I mean, I know it's the cultists, but what are they saying?" She hastily amended herself.

"It's Deep Speech. You don't want to know. Come on; the sacrifice is almost ready!" Malaggar snapped and began to pick up the pace, pushing past Sim and forcing the others to start running behind him.

"Hey, I know we need to hurry, but do you have some sort of plan?" Wella asked, struggling to keep up with them. The fact Ranma was looking back at her as though he was considering picking her up and carrying her just pushed her to go faster. Damn tallfolk, wasn't her fault her legs were short! She would not be humiliated like that!

"Don't need one. There's eight of them and four of us; we can take two to one odds… alright, I can, and I'm sure you losers can stay alive long enough for me to handle them." Malaggar said, gripping the handle-like end of his mysterious wrapped bundle.

"This is crazy." Sim pointed out as they approached a shut door, the chanting clearly emanating from beyond.

"If you want to slink off into the shadows, formless, ain't nothing stopping you." The drow spat.

The changeling bristled, clearly insulted, but stayed where he was. Not that he would have had the time to speak before they crashed through the door and into the temple-proper beyond.

"You want blood and pain, whoresons? Well, I've got a present for ya!" Malaggar screamed, now wielding the huge bundle as though it was a weapon… in fact, as it promptly burst into the same green flames as his now-discarded shortsword, it revealed itself to **be** a weapon. A sword with a blade easily as long as Malaggar was tall, the dark elf seemed utterly unconcerned with its weight as he brought the blazing blade sweeping around in a horizontal arc that simultaneously bisected and incinerated three Torog cultists with one blow.

"Infidels! Kill them!" Screeched a woman standing near the altar, on which had been bound a reptilian figure – clearly, this was the high priestess of this cult.

"I thought he said there was only eight cultists left!" Wella shouted as the robed fanatics surged towards them.

"I guess he was wrong – but it's not like it matters." Sim replied, breezily flinging a dagger straight into a cultist's throat and felling him with a blood-choked gurgle.

"Yeah, I've fought tougher battles than this just to get breakfast!" Ranma laughed, easily dodging the strikes of three more cultists, then laying them one of them out with a sharp jumping kick to the jaw.

Wella shook her head in disbelief, then yelped as she narrowly avoided being smacked in the face with a spiked chain. Leaping back as far as she could, she grabbed desperately for components in her pouch-belts, slapping them together almost faster than the eye could follow before tossing the resultant tangle of metal onto the floor. Her assailant grinned wickedly, though the grin faded away as the tangle suddenly sprouted like something from the Plane Below, reshaping itself into a caricature of a humanoid, one hand shifting into something like a giant drill. "Sic her!" Wella snapped.

Ranma rolled his eyes as he dodged the clumsy stab of his foe, replying with a backhand that broke his nose and sent him sprawling unconscious to the floor. He was about to move on to help out Sim, currently trying to hold off a particularly large and powerful looking cultist with just his daggers, when he heard the high priestess shriek. "Fight, you weaklings! Kill them! You're all worthless!" That wouldn't have phased him much, he honestly heard much better mad ranting back home, but this was followed by something like an orb of flaming blood slamming into the cultist he had just downed, who promptly screamed in pain and began to flail and tear desperately at his clothing. Ranma barely had the time to realize that the victim's flesh was bulging and rippling obscenely before the doomed man exploded, a great swarm of gore-slick centipedes ripping through the shredded meat and making for the martial artist.

"Aw, geeze! That's sick!" Ranma shrieked, lashing out with hands and feet to crush and smash the flesh-crazed arthropods.

Standing by the altar, the high priestess swore. Her faithful minions were falling fast; as she watched, a quintet of survivors fled for the door, only for the drow swordmage to teleport from behind them to be in front of them. His fullblade came crashing down on the lead cultist with an almighty thunderclap, rendering it impossible to tell if his victim was cloven in half before being vibrated apart or simply blasted to jelly by the vibrations pulsing from the giant sword. As it slammed down onto the gore-slick stone, waves of thunder rolled out and slammed into the other survivors, tearing flesh and stone with equal ease. As he raised himself elegantly to his feet, the blade still shimmered with thunderous vibrations. The halfling wench was cheering as her arcanomechanical automaton plunged a shrieking drill into the heart of one cultist, then she sent it to flank the cultist currently battling that changeling thief. The human was eliminating her centipede swarm with his bare hands. A motion from the back of her eye caught her attention and she spun away from the scene.

"You! Where do you think you're going? Get in there and fight!" She howled.

"Lady… you ain't paying me enough to tangle with them." The mercenary who was supposed to be her champion replied, not even having the decency to look at her.

"You faithless mercenary scum! I'll…" She shrieked, calling upon the powers gifted to her by Torog. Before she could unleash divine retribution, though, a throwing hammer sailed through the air to split her skull and send her body crashing to the floor. As the lifeblood poured from her body, the last thing she heard was her killer's voice.

"Better a live faithless mercenary than a dead fanatic fool."

Several minutes later, the last of the cultists was dead, and Sim was using one of his daggers to cut the dragonborn free. Sitting up, she rubbed her wrists and looked grateful. "Thank you; I thought for certain that the west wind would be carrying my soul to Bahamut's castle."

"Don't mention it. Yech…" Ranma said, trying to scrape off some of the foulsome slime that was centipede residue.

"Well, that was fun, but I guess it's here that we part ways." Malaggar stated, his fullblade clanking onto the stone.

"What? Aw, I thought we made a pretty good team." Wella said, looking disappointed. "I was hoping we could maybe keep working together? You know, start our own adventuring party?" She suggested.

"And since when do adventures grow on trees?" The drow retorted.

"…I do need some strong warriors to assist me in something." The dragonborn mentioned. "Oh, my name is Thava, an Invoker in the service of the Wyrmking." She added.

"I'm game." Wella immediately supplied.

"If you can pay me, I'll kill for you." Sim proclaimed absently, busily looting the corpses of the cultists.

Malaggar looked grim… well, grimmer than normal… and began stroking the flat of his fullblade. At last, he spoke up. "Well… I don't have anything particularly pressing to do…" He admitted.

"Very well… and what about you, human?" Thava asked.

Ranma looked pensive. "I don't know… I really should be working on a way to get home."

"Your village can't be that important to you." Malaggar declared scornfully.

"Village, nothing. I'm talking about getting back to my own world." The human stated flatly.

The demihumans stared at him in surprise, before Sim finally stood up, pockets bulging with coins and other valuables, and took a few hesitant steps toward him. "…You're a planewalker?" He asked.

"If that's a fancy way of saying 'fell through a hole in space and ended up on a whole different planet', then yeah, I'm a planewalker." Ranma said.

"If that is so, then I would suggest you come with us." Thava said confidently. "The Church of Bahamut is one of the most widely spread faiths in this world, and we have contacts with many other faiths of the light. If you help me with my mission, I'm certain the church will be able to help you find a way back to your world."

Ranma looked thoughtful, scratching the side of his head, and then nodded. "Well, I guess I've got no other clues… and maybe you guys can help me with this other problem I've got…"

"Then it's settled!" Wella cheered. "All we need to do now is come up with a name for ourselves!"

"Let's not and say we did." Malaggar mocked.

"Are you going to be like this the whole time we're around each other?" Sim queried distastefully.

As the two began to bicker, Ranma sighed and shook his head. Ah well, this was still more teamwork than he'd ever gotten out of Nerima. Maybe he had a chance to get home after all…

_And thus the journey begins. Of course, how it ends may well never be told. For the curious, Thava is a Covenant of Wrath Invoker, Malaggar an Aegis of Assault Swordmage, Sim an Artful Dodger Rogue, and Well is just a "vanilla" Artificer with a more "technomantic" theme to her spells. Ranma is… well, technically a Monk. And for D&D veterans who may be wondering why I had Thava refer to the West Wind; I know that Bahamut has "Lord of the North Wind" as one of his titles, but his domicile is traditionally known as the "Palace Behind The East Wind", so I figured that the west wind would be regarded as carrying the souls of the departed faithful there. Probably not accurate, I know, but I'm not as caught up on the past lore as I might like to be._


End file.
